DP 1C INSTINCT 



■LIGIOUS EDUCATION 



C'HOMAS WALTON GALLOWAY 




Class J 3V /*7 *- 

Book L&3__ 

Copyright^?— 



CORfRIGHT DEPOSm 






THE DRAMATIC INSTINCT IN 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



THE 

DRAMATIC INSTINCT IN 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



THOMAS WALTON GALLOWAY. Ph.D., Litt.D. 

w 

Association Director, Department of Education. 
A mer ican Soc ia t Hyg iene A ssoc iat ion 

AUTHOR OF 

"The Use of Motives in Teaching Morals and Religion' 

"Textbook of Zoology' 

"Biology of Sex for Parents and Teachers" etc. 



THE PILGRIM PRESS 

BOSTON CHICAGO 



&l 



•Gr* 



COPYKIGHT, 1922 

By SIDNEY A. WESTON 



Printed in the United States of America 



THE JORDAN & MORE PRESS 

BOSTON 



)CI.A692006 

NOV 20 '22 
p v 



This book is affectionately dedicated to a body of 
religious workers, the most remarkable in organiza- 
tion and spirit which the writer has known, — the 
Second Presbyterian Church, Decatur, Illinois. 



CONTENTS 

PART I 
First Principles 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. An Experiment in Dramatization 3 

II. Some Teaching Principles Involved 

in This Experiment 9 

III. Dramatic Expression as a Means of. 

Moral and Religious Education 20 

IV. The Use of the Bible as a Source of 

Dramatic Material for Church- 
school Pupils 28 

V. How to Construct a Biblical Drama 34 



PART II 

Specimen Biblical Dramas 
The Good Samaritan. By Clara Baker. 49 

The Wise and Foolish Virgins. By Fay 

Fisher. 58 

The Child Moses. By Clara Baker. 68 

Naaman's Quest. By a Class of Girls. 79 

Joseph and His Brethren. By Clara Baker, 

Estella E. Bryant, Anna M. Boyd, Henri- 

etta P. Eckhard, and a Class of Boys. 94 



PART I 

FIRST PRINCIPLES 



CHAPTER I 

AX EXPERIMENT IN DRAMATIZATION 

In a certain church school there was a teacher- 
training class. It was studying about attention and 
interest, the point of contact in teaching, natural 
impulses and instincts, about motives, motivation and 
other things that modern psychology has given the 
teacher for his help and confusion. It was decided 
that this class should organize and conduct an experi- 
ment. It was believed that children like to act out 
things that interest them; like to carry into effect 
the impulses that move them. It was felt, further- 
more, that we do not bring the Bible stories close 
enough to the modern child to give him the training 
in emotions and attitudes to which he is entitled. 

The members of this class had heard of the wonder- 
ful success which the ward-school teachers had been 
getting by putting the literary stories of the grades 
into dramatic form and allowing the children to play 
them. Cinderella, Evangeline, the classic myths, 
and many other stories had been treated in this way. 
They noticed that the children liked these things, 
would work hard at them, would enter very fully 
into the spirit of them, and would give them as plays 
and as pageants with great pleasure. They knew 



The Dramatic Instinct 

also that the classes in history in the grades and in 
high school had been allowed to dramatize and stage, 
in play or in pageant, episodes in colonial history. 
It was currently reported that the children enjoyed 
their history better and learned more about the spirit 
of it than in the old way. They heard the public- 
school teachers insist that these dramatizations gave 
clearness to ideas; helped the timid, backward, sensi- 
tive children by encouraging natural self-expression; 
helped to develop the social and cooperative emotional 
quality in the children; gave them better knowledge 
of and taste for choice words and phrases; begot bet- 
ter expression in oral reading; aided memory and 
strengthened imagination, and even gave practice 
in discrimination and judgment; gave more power, 
therefore, and disposition to interpret whatever they 
might read; helped mold moral standards. Most of 
all, they heard that this device added to the joy and 
satisfaction with which the children entered upon these 
undertakings. It gave the emotional and spiritual 
element so largely lacking in most history teaching. 
They knew that little can be done in sound education 
unless the child himself is satisfied and convinced. 

These young teachers decided that in all probability 
the beautiful parts of Hebrew life and literature could 
be made more full of meaning to the children in the 
church school in the same concrete way. It was 
believed that a child who studied a Bible story with 
the idea of making or acting a little play, such as 
children are always staging and acting for one another 

4 



An Experiment 

in their natural relaxations, would have a much 
better idea of it, would assimilate it better, and would 
be much more likely to remember it helpfully and be 
fond of it than is usually the case. They felt also 
that even those children who did not take part in the 
plays, but merely saw them given by others, would 
find more meaning in them and come to appreciate 
the Bible stories better than if the stories were merely 
told or recited in class. Seeing them acted would re- 
inforce the oral teaching they had received. 

Reasoning in this way, the class appointed a com- 
mittee to examine into the matter and to formulate 
a plan for starting something of this kind as a part of 
the work of that church school. They were asked to 
select some suitable incident from the Bible and to see 
whether or not they could get some class to present 
it, either as a part of the opening exercises of the 
church school or in connection with the church service 
in the evening. The committee selected the story 
of Joseph for the purpose. In this first attempt they 
themselves undertook to arrange the drama rather 
than ask some class to do it. In doing this the 
committee used, wherever possible, the stately words 
of the King James version and undertook to make the 
dialogue harmonize with this as far as practicable, 
both in spirit and phraseology, so that the children 
might keep the general atmosphere of the Bible even 
in the play. The " stage business " was arranged; a 
class was costumed and trained in the little drama 
until they could enter into its spirit and give it in 

5 



The Dramatic Instinct 

such a way that they and their hearers might feel 
that it was very well done. In all of this work it was 
insisted that the purpose was in no sense to stage an 
artistic performance. There was no desire to have 
the audience compare the acting and appointments 
w r ith those seen in the theater, but rather to compare 
them with the work done in an ordinary church- 
school class at its lessons. The object was tu get some 
appreciation of the episode, faithful study of the whole 
surroundings of it, and a free and genuine expression, 
in dialogue and in act, of the pupiPs idea of what was 
meant by it, rather than a finished and artistic piece 
of acting. The idea was to develop the boys rather 
than the drama. 

This little play, together with some special music 
and an exhibition of some of the hand-work of the 
various grades- of the church school, furnished a 
most interesting Sunday evening to a crowded house. 
The parents of the children in the church school were 
especially invited. It was accepted by most as a kind 
of recitation by the class of boys upon this stirring and 
impressive piece of biblical biography. It was con- 
sidered a success. To be sure it involved quite an 
unexpected amount of work on the part of the com- 
mittee. The classes of larger boys were not quite 
sure at first that it was not just an old-fashioned 
" Children's Day " performance disguised, in which 
it was rather beneath their dignity to participate. 
But by getting a popular young man to take the part 
of the aged Jacob, and some athletic young fellows to 

6 



An Experiment 

take the roles of some of the elder brothers, it became 
possible to enlist a class of boys who would ordinarily 
scorn it as a job for girls. 

It is of course too much to expect that all those 
boys got and retained all the spiritual meanings con- 
tained in this story; but it is quite certain that few of 
them will forget the main facts of Joseph's life as 
long as th£y live; and there is no doubt that they 
worked longer and harder at getting into the spirit of 
the early biblical times than they had ever done before. 

This experiment was conducted years ago and is 
now an old story in that church. Out of it, in the 
minds of those who have carefully observed, has come 
the realization that this type of work has quite a 
definite meaning and value in the child's appreciation 
of the Bible and in his moral and spiritual growth. 
Out of it came the offering of prizes for the best selec- 
tion and dramatization of Bible incidents by classes 
of boys and of girls in the church school; the present- 
ing of numerous such stories in play form, and always 
to crowded houses; the using of the play form fre- 
quently in many of the younger classes as a method of 
class exercise for the regular lesson. 

It has been found that the constructing of the 
drama is even more educative than the presenting of 
it; that often older classes, which would not care to 
appear publicly in the episodes, get pleasure and profit 
in making the suitable dialogue and stage business for 
younger pupils; that nothing else has ever secured 
more thorough study of biblical situations, customs, 



The Dramatic Instinct 

principles, and applications. The experiment has 
broadened the whole idea of expressive work in that 
school, and has emphasized its educational value. 

Incidentally several members of this teacher-train- 
ing class spent a good deal of time in laying out 
dramatic incidents, in polishing up the lines, in coach- 
ing and otherwise wrestling with the exuberant young 
actors. There is no question that they are better 
teachers today because of their work in this experi- 
ment and what grew out of it, nor that the boys and 
girls are better off from their intimate contact with 
these young teachers. After all, most of our success- 
ful teaching devices get much of their value from the 
increase of the personal contacts. The experiment 
was a great educational success. It has made more 
of the Sundays of the year " Children's Days " in a 
very real sense of the word. 

And out of this experience has come this book. 



CHAPTER II 

SOME TEACHING PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THIS 
EXPERIMENT 

The great aim of our moral and religious teaching 
is very easy to state, although very hard to secure. 
We want to develop in our boys and girls the power 
and the disposition and the habit of making right 
decisions or choices, whatever may be the circum- 
stances. Choice is the most important, the most 
revealing, and the most educative thing that we ever 
do. Everything that we believe or know or desire or 
purpose focuses on this point; when we choose we 
show just what it is that guides and controls our 
actions. Choice is at the core of character. 

1. The two great methods of reaching choice 
Of course, choice is so deep in personality that we 
cannot reach and mold it directly. The only way in 
which it can be educated is for the individual himself 
to choose. The act of choosing trains in choosing. 
Clearly we cannot make a decision for another. If 
we do, it ceases to be his choice and educates him only 
to depend more completely upon us. There are, 
however, two avenues whereby we may indirectly 
aid in influencing choices without destroying the per- 

9 



The Dramatic Instinct 

son's active participation. In the first place, we may 
impress the personality on the receiving side, and thus 
influence the springs of choice. That is, we may teach 
the child or inspire him; we may appeal to his desires 
and thoughts, standards and ideals, and thus furnish 
him with more ample motives to choose in this or that 
way. We do this by giving information, by suggestion, 
by example, by exhortation. Most of our teaching 
is of this kind. It is impression. Knowledge and 
judgment, likes and dislikes, experiences and habits, 
ideals and purposes, all influence our choices. Any- 
thing we can do to modify any of these will help to 
determine choice. They are all capable of being 
modified and educated. They may be weakened, 
strengthened, or refined. 

On the other hand, we may educate and modify 
choice through the results and the outcome of choices. 
Choice results in action, and action is attended by 
satisfaction or dissatisfaction, depending on what we 
have done and on the effects of the act. No sort of 
teaching or impression has so much influence on choice 
as this. If we can encourage right action, and help to 
insure the satisfaction that comes with right expression, 
this is the more certain of the two ways of getting the 
right action repeated, and thus of forming right habits 
both of acting and choosing. We effectively educate 
right choices through what the child does, if we can 
provide the proper satisfactions or discomforts in 
connection with these acts. This is the crucial point 
in all pedagogy of attitude and character. 

10 



Some Teaching Principles 

2. The complete personal reaction 

Right training, however, does not exalt either of 
these methods of reaching choice at the expense of the 
other. Perfect teaching involves presenting the truth 
so as to stimulate the receiving side which leads up 
to choice, using the proper desires and experiences 
and ideas and ideals that minister to it, and then seeing 
that all this impulse expresses itself in decision and 
action, followed always by the satisfaction that flows 
from the right expression and the discomfort that 
attends the wrong. It is pernicious to teach and 
inspire and not have the impression find its w T ay on 
into expression. It is just as bad for the child to be 
denied the comfort and gratification that belongs to 
right choices. It is equally wrong to protect the child 
so that he may not experience the discomfort that 
should follow his wrong choices. 

It is by this natural round of stimulus, inner ap- 
praisal, choice, action, and reward that we educate 
the whole of personality. Impression without choice 
is abortive. To expect choice and expression without 
adequate stimuli for the springs of choice is the 
height of unreason. Such action would be a mere 
spasm of unrest with no adaptive meaning. 

3. The use of expression in modern education 

For many centuries formal education was almost 
entirely a matter of instruction, which was supposed to 
provide the pupils w T ith knowledge. In the progress of 
education w r e have learned at least three things : first, 

11 



The Dramatic Instinct 

that knowledge is by no means the most important 
goal of education; second, that there are better ways 
to knowledge than by instruction alone; and third, 
that desires and satisfactions, which so profoundly 
mold personality and life, are highly educable. 
Knowledge is but the first step in real education. 
It may make a full man, but it alone cannot make 
either a satisfied or an efficient man. We must add 
to the understanding of a situation the right inner 
emotional response and the outward action which it 
requires. 

On the other hand, we have found, even if we are 
seeking knowledge alone, that it is never quite our 
own until we have given some sort of expression to it. 
It is for this double reason — to make knowledge more 
real, and to give us more than mere knowledge — that 
we have put into our schools so many new activities 
that make for satisfaction by way of practice. These 
have exactly the same purpose in training for every- 
day life as the laboratory and the " project " have in 
teaching science, and as the hospital or clinic has in 
connection with the medical school. 

4. The principle applied to religious education 
Where can we find a clinic in which we can secure 
some really expressive work in connection with our 
church schools? The tendency has been to do our 
teaching there, and to leave the putting of our teaching 
into practice chiefly to the unguided chances of the 
pupil's life on the street, in the home, and at school. 

12 



Some Teaching Principles 

The instruction of the church school and the actual 
situations of life must be brought closer together. 
To help bring this about we can do two things: we 
can make better use of the various forms of self- 
expression which are possible in the church school 
itself, devising and multiplying situations which have 
some of the educative qualities of a laboratory "proj- 
ect"; and second, we can accept life in the home and 
school and street as the real laboratory, and in greater 
degree than at present go with the pupil into these 
situations and help and encourage him to try out our 
teachings in the choices and decisions necessary in 
every-day activities. 

The essence of the teaching clinic is that one's first 
expressive applications of his instruction are not left 
to chance, but are somewhat limited and so directed 
that there may not be failure because of meeting 
difficulties which are too numerous or too great for 
the student to cope with at his present stage of attain- 
ment. The training for the medical profession and 
the training for Christian living alike need supervised 
expression and practice intermediate between the 
instruction in the schools and independent life. 
If we are to secure the union of appropriate behavior 
and inner character with the stimuli we offer, we our- 
selves must in some way follow the pupil of the 
church school into his life, or we must secure the 
intelligent cooperation of his family, his school- 
teachers, the supervisors of his play, and his compan- 
ions in securing right and satisfying choices. Some- 

13 



The Dramatic Instinct 

thing is possible in all these directions, and must be 
sanely worked out by teachers of religion. It is not 
our purpose here to follow the application of this 
principle further. 

5. Expressive work which is possible in connection 
with church-school teaching 

Not all kinds of expression are equally valuable. 
Some activities train the hand and eye primarily, 
and the mind and spirit incidentally. Others call 
forth immediately the mental and spiritual reaction. 
But let us not mistake. Any choice and action that 
plays on interest, enlists attention and appreciation, 
guides to wholesome activity and gives the child 
satisfaction, has its value to morals and religion. 

Expression of what is taught may be of two kinds, 
representative or original. In representative expres- 
sion the pupil tries to portray or illustrate a truth or 
relation which he has learned, with no direct reference 
to actual life. In original expression the pupil applies 
the lesson that he has learned to meeting the new and 
concrete problems and demands of life that he faces, 
both within the church school and without. To bring 
about sound original behavior is, of course, the cul- 
mination of the teacher's work. His great task is to 
imbed in the behavior of the pupil honesty, obedience, 
fairness, self-control, and the other attitudes about 
which we teach. Nor can these qualities be said to 
have any place in character unless they show in 
behavior. If our teaching does not modify conduct 

14 



Some Teaching Principles 

now, we cannot justly expect that in some mysterious 
way it will come to do so in later life. 

As a means of preparing the way for this most 
vital and final part of the teacher's work, expression 
which is merely representative serves a valuable 
purpose. Representative expression is largely, though 
not wholly, a use of imitation and repetition by which 
we fix in personality, through action, the really 
essential teachings. It may take three forms. The 
first of these is handwork, in which the pupil gives 
expression to his knowledge by constructive use of 
materials such as clay, sand, paper and pencils in 
building, modeling, drawing, map-making, etc. This 
aids in fixing and impressing facts, and ministers 
to physical skill, and to mental and moral exact- 
ness. Again, representative expression may be by 
words, as in recitation, essays, stories, etc. This is 
used more than any other form of expressive work and 
has real value. Its weakness lies in the fact that 
expression of a truth by words alone does not neces- 
sarily lead either to action or to conviction in harmony 
with that truth; and if this form of expression is used 
exclusively it increases the danger of divorcing knowl- 
edge from conduct, and speech from experience. It 
needs reinforcing by some deeper form of expression 
which will both fix the words and verify them by 
connecting them in consciousness and purpose with 
that which they picture of attitude or of behavior. 

In the third form of representative expression, 
which is acting or dramatization, the pupil uses, in 

15 



The Dramatic Instinct 

addition to words, the whole expressive equipment of 
his own personality. Furthermore, if the acting is to 
be well done, he must realize and reproduce within him- 
self as far as is possible the very impulses and motives 
which prompted the words and the actions of the per- 
son whom he represents. Clearly it is a much more 
vital and complete form both of appreciation and 
expression than either handwork or speech, especially 
in the extent to which it stimulates and expresses 
motives. 

6. The principle of motivation 

In recent years there has come to teachers a greatly 
strengthened realization that the value of any activity 
is much increased if the thing done appeals powerfully 
to some of the strong, natural desires and tendencies. 
Things that we do half-heartedly and unsatisfyingly 
leave little helpful impress upon character. This is 
drudgery; and real drudgery is only and always 
deadening in its effect. This statement does not imply 
that disagreeable tasks are to be ignored either by 
the young or by their parents and teachers; but that 
it is the instructor's part to find a way to make a 
thing that is worth doing appear worth while and to 
furnish both zest and satisfaction to the pupil whom he 
guides. 

A strong internal motive for doing anything makes 
us more certain to accomplish it; but, more important 
still, what we do with such a motive influences our 
character more than what we do with little interest. 

16 



Some Teaching Principles 

We do better work and we are left in better spirit. 
After the primary essentials of method are mastered, 
skill in teaching consists very largely in the practical 
application of this principle. This does not mean 
" soft teaching." One of the very motives to be 
stirred may be the desire and the satisfaction of 
mastering the weakness which prompts one to neglect 
a task because it is unpleasant. "Motivation" 
makes, not for little tasks, but for great incentives. 

The appeal to motives in church-school work is not 
a new thing. We have boosted interest with picnics 
on July 4th and Christmas trees at the end of the year; 
with buttons and medals and prizes all along the way ; 
with competition between classes, between boys and 
girls, and between " red and blue " teams, with ban- 
quets for the winners. But these crude attempts 
have at best had little value in furthering our real 
aims. Their pedagogical shortcoming is that they 
center the motives almost entirely upon objects not 
strictly a part of the church school itself and develop 
states of spirit which should be very foreign to it. 
The inducements are artificial and superficial, and 
they frequently appeal to impulses in the child which 
are of questionable character. For example, we often 
appeal to personal greed and pride and rivalries in 
order to produce results in the way of enrolment or 
attendance in an institution whose very object ought 
to be to help to eliminate or control these crass forms of 
selfishness and competition. Our whole system of 
encouraging and rewarding selfish competition in 

17 



The Dramatic Instinct 

material things is the greatest barrier to a possible 
Christian civilization. Siiice we strengthen motives 
by giving them play and satisfaction, would it not 
much improve our pedagogical position and secure 
better motivation in religious education if we should 
drop our dependence on pride, greed, and rivalry, 
mingled with fear for the hereafter, and substitute 
for them the biggest, sanest use we can make of the 
natural curiosity of the child, of his impulse to imitate, 
of his native trustfulness and sympathy in and for all, 
of his legitimate play instincts, of whatever respect for 
authority he may have, of his desire to be doing some- 
thing and to be producing results, and of his proper 
liking for leadership in those things which he can do 
best? 

7. Dramatic action as a means of motivation in 
church-school work 

In our church schools we are trying to make the 
children able and willing to make right choices in life. 
Knowledge of the great, inspiring teachings of the 
Bible will help in this. But, in order to have it so, 
we must make these incidents and teachings interest- 
ing and appealing to the children. We must bring 
the Bible to them in an attractive way, and we must 
lead them to it through their natural desires and 
impulses. The child is curious to know the truth of 
life. He is fond of stories. Both these facts we use in 
our ordinary efforts to make him acquainted with God 
through the Bible. Another exercise, which appeals 
greatly to most children, is this one of acting. They 

18 



Some Teaching Principles 

give themselves up to it with much zest. If we can 
arrange biblical incidents for them in the form of little 
plays we can supply a new and strong motive for study 
and appreciation. Such performances are close to the 
play instinct of children, are related to the talking 
impulse, involve the impulses of imitation, of repeti- 
tion, of social cooperation, and of leadership. In 
addition to this, imagination is strongly called forth 
and is brought to play about vital problems of life for 
which we are seeking to prepare our children; for any 
story which lends itself to dramatization is of neces- 
sity based upon the fruition in conduct and the out- 
come of choices which have a deep significance and a 
universal appeal. 

The Bible is rich in material that the children can 
put in dramatic form and act out conscientiously, and 
with a surprising degree of understanding. There is 
strong truth and broad appeal in its pictures of life. 
Just as soon as one undertakes to dramatize a biblical 
incident he comes to appreciate this anew. The 
effort to get the incidents assimilated into the nature 
of the child by way of the drama reveals how real and 
human it all is. Such an approach makes the Bible 
appeal to the belief of the child in a stronger way than 
mere reading can do, and relates its teachings more 
closely to his conduct. It is a method of teaching 
which furnishes strong motives for careful study on 
the part of the children, and which helps them to find 
the truths and to assimilate them emotionally as ordi- 
nary routine study could never do. 

19 



CHAPTER III 

DRAMATIC EXPRESSION AS A MEANS OF MORAL AND 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

1. The acting impulse and its meaning 
We have already noticed how generally children 
give attention to " acting " and " plays " at certain 
periods of life. Doubtless most of us can recall in our 
own childhood how we would make up situations and, 
alone or with other children, act out our own ideas of 
them. Doubtless we can remember the pleasure we 
had in these plays of our childhood. It may be that 
many of us in the quiet of our rooms even wrote little 
dramas of our own, in which we poured out many of 
our ideas of life and its early tragedies. 

Possibly we may have forgotten our own childhood. 
If so, we have only to watch any little girl at play with 
her dolls, or any boy with his soldiers or animal toys 
to see the whole performance again. We shall soon 
realize how much of the playing is organized into series 
of little dramatic pictures of the real life that the child 
knows. This very naturalness and commonness of the 
impulse show the part it plays in normal development. 
It shows that the child is interested in it, is pleased 
and satisfied by the exercise. In just the degree in 
which this is true it must be important in building 
up the inner life of the child. This impulse motivates 

20 



Dramatic Expression 

very much of the natural behavior of children from 
early childhood to middle adolescence. S© much time 
and attention could not possibly be given and fail to 
minister to attitudes, points of view, and habits of 
thought as well as to skill in expressing these states. 
Possibly these fictitious situations are not as educa- 
tive as are real ones; and yet it is not safe to be too 
sure of this. As a matter of fact, they are not so 
unreal to the child as we feel them; for it is certainly 
true that the child has great power of giving actuality 
to imaginary conditions. It is further true that the 
child is more naturally himself in these situations 
which he has manufactured than in those of actual 
life which are often made for him and which may well 
seem strange to him. There is really more of himself 
in the plays. Without question he learns greatfy 
from them. Equally without question we might 
learn more about the child by observing him under 
these conditions than in what we are pleased to de- 
scribe as real life. All this is said entirely in agree- 
ment with the view that no child should be allowed to 
live perpetually in the realm of imaginative expression. 

2. The forms of dramatic expression in youth 
In the illustrations used above of dolls and sol- 
diers we have the first form of child drama. It is 
individual. The child plays all the parts. He makes 
all the transitions himself, even though he may do so 
by giving life to his inanimate toys. A little later 
these children add social plays in w T hich each child has 

21 



The Dramatic Instinct 

its role. Each child of course likes to play the lead- 
ing role; and the acting is at first social in form rather 
than in spirit* Every child insists on being a star. 
They play school, church school, church, home life, 
and other relations that they know or imagine. They 
visualize what takes hold of their imagination in what 
they have heard or read. The boy plays soldier or 
hunter or wild Indian or pirate or bear, as suits his 
instincts. The girl plays fairy, neighbor, Red- 
Cross nurse, church-school teacher, and the like. 
Doubtless the emotional life in these is just as rich 
and the expressions of it just as genuine as with their 
elders in real life. Consequently they are really and 
socially educative. 

As the child matures the plays become more and 
more social. The individual " stars," at least tem- 
porarily, cooperate in true team play. Thus their 
acting, which is at first a training in self-expression 
and the egoistic submergence of the self in a fictitious 
character, takes on more and more of the real social 
attitude. In this case the self becomes submerged in 
the general result in w T hich all the actors share. This 
marks progress in forgetfulness of self. The playing 
establishes easy highways of habit from emotion, 
through choice, to action and back again to attitudes. 
What we need is not to accent the separateness of the 
plays from real life, but sanely to connect them with it. 

Somewhat later in life, when boys and girls come 
to give more attention to one another, there is another 
period in which the drama again appeals with special 

22 



Dramatic Expression 

force. This is the period of amateur theatricals. 
The motive becomes more social than before and 
emphasizes this new attraction of the sexes. Usually 
the ideals are sound and the expressions wholesome. 
It is a period of impressionability to the great ideas of 
chivalry, consideration, sympathy, appreciation of the 
points of view of the other sex, and the like. Heroes 
and heroines loom large in these plays; but the 
impulses and the expressions are really social. They 
may well be practiced in high dramatic activities as 
a part of constructive and normal sex education. 

3. Why does this appeal to the child? 

It is easy enough to see that dramatic representa- 
tion is pleasing to the child. It is easy also to see the 
advantages in it. It is not so easy to be sure just 
why it is so appealing. Somewhat the same thing is 
true of the play instinct, of which indeed the acting 
impulse is a part. We are not sure that we under- 
stand exactly what it is that makes the young 
animal and the child play. We know ft contributes 
much to the education of both; but this fact is not the 
reason why it gives pleasure. They are not seeking 
education. Perhaps to say that it is natural to get 
pleasure out of any spontaneous self-expression helps 
some; but we still need to inquire what causes this 
to be one of the agreeable forms of self-expression. 
Possibly it is made up of the desire of the child to be 
doing something, together with the impulse to imitate 
what it sees and to repeat what has given pleasure, 

23 



The Dramatic Instinct 

colored throughout by imagination, which is so much 
of the life and joy of the child. At any rate all of 
these attitudes and impulses enter into acting, and 
all of them are among the things that drive children 
to do what they do, and all of them give pleasure. 

4. The states to which dramatic activity ministers 
It is clear that all these native tendencies which 
lead the child to act will be developed and modified by 
the acting. The state of the actor in " forgetting 
himself," which is essential in good acting, has a 
distinct value in all social education. He must also 
master the situation through actual knowledge or 
through constructive imagination, so that he may 
put himself temporarily in the place of the persons 
portrayed. In doing such a thing as this he not 
merety imagines, but must also comprehend, interpret, 
appraise and reconstruct the states of mind and the 
actions of those he is representing. He imagines him- 
self as possessing these qualities and points of view. 
To do this he must dispossess himself and go into 
the part without reserve. This helps free the child 
from self-consciousness in his actions. Briefly, dra- 
matic action encourages the instinct of reading oneself 
into situations and of expressing oneself in these situa- 
tions. It cultivates the imagination in connection with 
self-expression. We are too apt to suppose that 
imagination is confined to apprehending and appreciat- 
ing. It is receptive, to be sure; but expression has 
just as really its imaginative aspects, and we need to 

24 



Dramatic Expression 

cultivate these. The preparation for such dramatic 
work calls for a mastery and memory of the important 
elements in situations as nothing else does. It in- 
creases self-reliance, as well as respect for the rights of 
others in the play. The drama is more convincing 
than reading or recitation can possibly be; that is, 
it more fully impresses the truth on the mind of the 
pupils. It appeals to the mind both through the eye 
and the ear of those who see and hear it, and, in addi- 
tion, through the act of expression of those who play. 
Furthermore, the acting-out of these states of mind, 
which the child has temporarily made his own, helps 
to establish an open connection between ideas and the 
appropriate behavior. We are somewhat more free 
to do the right thing in a play than in real life. This 
connection, even in a play, helps just that much, 
however, in stamping in the right links between men- 
tal states and conduct, between theory and practice. 
In other words, by using the play to help create habits 
of right action, we are giving ourselves the advantage 
of training along the lines of least resistance and 
surest response. The child may be brought by these 
events permanently to associate pleasure, satisfaction, 
and uplift with carrying right ideas into righteous 
expression. 

5. Relation of such acting to moral qualities 
The last sentences in the preceding paragraph will 
suggest in what way this kind of expression has a 
value in education in morals and religion. This whole 

25 



The Dramatic Instinct 

process of acting is full of emotional elements. It is 
scarcely a rational matter. It deals rather with the 
primitive instincts. The imagination and self-efface- 
ment in the child's spontaneous acting are closely 
related to the qualities on which faith, confidence, sym- 
pathy, devotion, wonder, and worship depend. They 
are closely allied with our religious and spiritual states. 
Religion has always made much of this imaginative 
spirit in art and literature, and in music and ritual. 

So far as expression is concerned, the act of doing 
the right thing in imaginary situations, as has been 
said, is an aid in forming the attitude and habit of 
doing the right thing under actual conditions. By the 
proper selection of characters and situations we can, 
under the sweep of the play, teach the lesson and at 
the same time secure the expression of the truth in 
conduct, and, what is a matter, of some importance, 
without preaching or threats. To be sure, this action 
is not original, is not strictly the child's own; but in so 
far as it is right, his mind is more free and quick to 
recognize its rightness and appropriateness in a play 
than in real life perhaps. This has not the moral 
value that right choice and expression have in actual 
life; but it does have a value. We are securing real 
responses under conditions that we can control, and 
are thus bringing the pupil much closer to real original 
right conduct than we do when we stop with right 
instruction. The play is a mild kind of clinic or 
gymnasium in which right behavior is had under the 
most favorable conditions. 

26 



Dramatic Expression 

Something of the strength of the appeal of the 
drama to the sound moral sense in us is seen in the 
heartfelt applause of the street urchins in the peanut- 
gallery when the villain in the melodrama gets his 
deserts. The artistic theater-goer regards this as 
crude and naive; but it illustrates the aid the play 
gives to right association between situation and 
response. As a means of moral instruction, such 
representative performances are intermediate be- 
tween mere instruction and the real choices in life. 
They are better than mere teaching, but not so good 
as actual, self-initiated action in real life. Even 
seeing other people carry right actions into effect in 
such a play is better than merely being instructed 
about what is right. Both of these experiences are 
good intermediate steps in our efforts to secure right 
behavior. We should, of course, see to it that the 
pupil does not end his right conduct at this half-way 
point of make-believe action. Righteousness in the 
drama is not the final goal of moral training! Social 
spirit in playing is not the completed product; but 
it is a possible stage, and an incentive. We should 
use it to help the youth make the transfer to actual 
situations. 



27 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE USE OF THE BIBLE AS A SOURCE OF DRAMATIC 
MATERIAL FOR CHURCH-SCHOOL PUPILS 

1. The dramatic quality of the Bible 

The Bible itself furnishes a very real incitement in 
respect to dramatization. It is full of very dramatic 
material of a type peculiarly on the childhood plane, 
and continually inspires to the dramatic use of it. 
The historical books consist of a succession of stirring 
episodes in the lives of the tribal and national heroes. 
One can hardly doubt that the Hebrew children, 
in the days when their history was being handed 
down largely by word of mouth, played over and over 
these heroic incidents related to them by their elders. 
H, This dramatic characteristic in the Bible is doubt- 
less due to the primitive and oriental type of mind 
both^in the writers and the hearers. These people 
delight in concrete pictures of events. They are full of 
imagery, but it is always concrete, even when imma- 
terial ideas are pictured. /This is true even of as 
spiritual a passage as the Twenty-third Psalm. This 
consists of a series of images in a very concrete form, 
full of dramatic suggestions. Yet there is no passage 
in the Old Testament perhaps in which there is more of 
spiritual content. This concreteness coupled with 
imagery is just the thing that appeals to the child- 
mind. It was intended to interest and to guide the 

28 



The Bible as a Source 

thinking and conduct of this oriental people. In many- 
respects they had the point of view of children. Doubt- 
less, too, the writers recognized the value of the dra- 
matic appeal. They had not merely a truth to impart; 
they realized that they must convey it in the most effec- 
tive way for the audience to which they were writing. The 
effectiveness in such instances is quite as much due to 
the form as to the message. This is what we mean 
when we refer to the literary effectiveness of the Bible. 

2. The strength of the Bible stories 

After making due allowance for the fact suggested 
in the preceding paragraph, it must be recognized that 
one of the most interesting points about the Bible 
stories is their appeal to people of all ages. They pre- 
sent a remarkable progressive revelation of truth, so 
that they are used by us with different meanings and 
appreciation as we pass through the stages to our 
maturity. In childhood we get and enjoy the broad, 
extravagant sweep of the pictures. It kindles our 
imagination and inspires our wonder. As we grow 
older different view-points develop, until at last we 
read into the episodes all the spiritual meanings that 
we have mastered. They minister to all stages of 
human growth of spirit. This is the great wonder of 
them: they always contain and convey a suitable 
message to most varied grades of insight. The mar- 
vel is that they can successfully carry so many kinds of 
freight. This means they are cosmopolitan, univer- 
sal, true, inspired. 

29 



The Dramatic Instinct 

It is to the child, however, that the dramatic ele- 
ment is at its maximum. We could not, as adults, 
find satisfaction in acting out the story of the garden 
of Eden. Our minds are busy with the allegory, 
with the spiritual values, with the degree of success or 
failure of the effort to explain the philosophy of 
human conditions as we find them. The child, on the 
contrary, would get the lesson which the story has 
for him in the literal picture. To him it would be a 
drama capable of being played. 

3. The proportion and moral values in Bible incidents 
The great gain which we have in the moral and 
religious education of the child from using the Bible 
episodes rather than other stories for dramatic pur- 
poses is this: the episodes and incidents of the Bible 
have, throughout,the moral view-point. They preserve 
a sense of values, of balance, of proportion, which we 
do not find in most literature. We may have, to be 
sure, the record of trivial human incidents, as the 
falling of the traveler among thieves, or the taking of 
the golden wedge by Achan. But the setting and the 
interpretation of these incidents always bring them 
out of the trivial into the universal. They are con- 
sidered as related to the whole universe order and to 
the spiritual movement of mankind. In this way they 
are dignified and are made to represent the real rela- 
tions of conduct to character and to God. The sense 
of this makes them big and appealing. 

It is just because the Bible has this fine sense of 

30 



The Bible as a Source 

proportion, which is pretty nearly what we mean by 
religion, that its incidents are so convincing, in spite 
of the bringing in of the supernatural elements. 
Furthermore, the real significance of this superhuman 
element will be more readily accepted without shock 
in the imaginative process of acting than in mere cold 
teaching. In thinking of it as a story, and in acting 
the incidents, the problem as to the historic truth is of 
little importance. The question is rather, " What is 
the truth taught?" This is much the more important 
question, and tends to postpone the historical one 
until the child is better able to consider it. Any- 
thing we can do to get the child to accept and assimi- 
late the essential Scripture truths before the thought 
of their particular method of transmission is raised 
is most helpful. 

4. The dramatic method as a method of mastery 
If the biblical matter is really as valuable as we 
claim to believe, if its message really may lay hold of 
the spirit of man and open, inspire, and uplift it, it 
becomes necessary that our young people shall do tw T o 
things. They must master the essence of the message, 
and they must come to have a sympathetic accep- 
tance of it. The test of mastery here is not memory; 
it is assimilation. Assimilation means, as we have 
seen, to take into one's personality and to work over 
raw material of any kind until it is completely a part 
of oneself. This process is peculiarly necessary in 
all education that involves motives, choices, and 

31 



The Dramatic Instinct 

conduct. We can conceive that information might 
be taken in and just remembered bodily, without this 
intimate building-in process; but we cannot expect 
information to mold choice and life and give moral 
values without this deeper mastery which works back 
into character through conduct. 

The dramatizing and acting of these episodes in- 
volve a kind of conduct, imitative and representative 
to be sure, but still demanding personal attitudes, 
choice, and expression. This exercise insures a fuller 
assimilation than can be had from mere instruction 
unless the pupil is peculiarly sensitive and tractable 
and imaginative. The test of mastery in such dra- 
matic work is power to do, to express adequately and 
convincingly — and not merely knowledge or memory. 

5. The securing of sympathetic acceptance and a 
liking for the Bible 

We all know that it is very important, in our use of 
the Bible as a moral and religious stimulus to children 
and young people, to get them to be interested in it and 
to like it. We also know that our efforts in this direc- 
tion are usually not very successful. Too often, even 
in the best instances, the attitude toward the Bible is 
somewhat unenthusiastic, unconvinced, and strained. 
There may be a certain respect and reverence, a 
fair recognition of its human values; but we cannot 
justly claim that we succeed in getting our children 
really fond of the Bible, or so very enthusiastic about 
it. This is in part because we have insisted that they 

32 



The Bible as a Source 

shall love it because it is the Bible rather than for 
more vital, internal reasons. In part it is because we 
have not discriminated as to the difference of appeal 
which the different parts have for children and youth. 
In insisting on the impossible, we have failed to get 
the reasonable. Many parts of the Bible we cannot 
rightly expect children and youth to become interested 
in. 

It is more important to get a sympathetic attitude 
toward the Bible and a real fondness for portions of it 
than to have a loveless knowledge of it all. The child 
can be brought to an admiration for and interest in 
its great heroic, imaginative, and dramatic pictures of 
life. There is no better way to do this than through 
the repetition of these as stories, dialogues, dramas 
and pageants in the early life of the child. Its vivid- 
ness and reality, the assimilation of it, and the in- 
creased sympathy and liking for it make a good founda- 
tion on which to build our later teaching. Presenting 
it in a dramatic way forces us to select suitable ma- 
terial, to deal with it in a way adapted to the apprecia- 
tion of the child, and to emphasize it as his emotional 
and expressive life will allow. In a word, it forces us 
to a closer grading of the biblical material to the 
development and the sophistication of the child, and 
this is itself a good pedagogical result. Apart from 
any possible public showing of the materials and 
merely as a means of instruction, dramatization is 
one of the best possible forms of class exercise. 



33 



CHAPTER V 

HOW TO CONSTRUCT A BIBLICAL DRAMA 

In this chapter the writer wishes to bring to the 
reader some of the practical features that were worked 
out in the course of experiments in dramatizing the 
Bible stories. It is not merely a matter of theory that 
great truths can be put in form both attractive and 
easily assimilated by means of the drama or pageant. 
It has often been proved so in practice. In making 
a start in such work as this there are three very practi- 
cal considerations, all of which have educational value 
for church-school workers: the selection of suitable 
episodes; the making of the dramas; and, finally, the 
presenting of the dramas. 

1. Selecting the episodes 

The selection of the episodes for dramatization 
should, of course, be done with pedagogical perspec- 
tive. The story should be adjusted to the general 
development of the group; though in this connection 
it must be borne in mind that the same episode may 
well be used for different ages, if only the treatment of 
it be specifically adapted to each. It will be adapted 
to them if they have the chief part in dramatizing it, 
as is advocated in the next section. 

34 



How to Construct 

It is not essential that all the incidents be taken from 
the Bible, although it will be found a very rich source. 
Missionary stories of the Christian heroes who have 
spread the gospel from the first century onward; in- 
spiring incidents from God's movements in human 
history; great pictures from literature in which the 
moral and religious truths show forth strongly: all 
these may furnish material to illustrate the same truths 
set forth iu the Bible and thus may reinforce and 
supplement it. These will help convince the child 
that the truths of the Bible can be depended upon to 
reassert themselves through all the ages. Their 
spirit and value are not limited to biblical times. 
" Pilgrim's Progress/' which few children would read 
unless drawn to it by some such aid, will furnish many 
episodes which can be presented dramatically, and 
thus win the pupil to an interest in the whole story. 

Special and appropriate dramatic incidents may 
well be selected and worked up for special occasions, 
as Rally Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, 
Easter, Children's Day and July 4th. Similarly, if it- 
is the policy of the church school to emphasize for 
several weeks in its opening worship elements sug- 
gested by such words as faith, reverence, good-will, 
communion and the like, it is possible to select inci- 
dents in the Bible or elsewhere and so develop them 
as to make both the actors and the hearers find the 
appeal of the idea more real. 

At the outset it is better to select some simple 
incident which carries a single and obvious lesson 

35 



The Dramatic Instinct 

with direct and readily traced movement, and thus 
use it as a definite educative project. It will be more 
easy to develop, and hence will not offer so many 
possibilities for discouragement and failure as a too 
ambitious theme might offer. As experience in 
dramatizing and in training comes, it will be easy 
enough to develop more complex stories. Such an 
incident as that of the Good Samaritan or the visit 
of the shepherds to the manger will be suitable to 
begin with. If it were desired to give as complex a 
story as the life of Joseph, it would be better to begin 
with one incident of it, as the selling to the Ishmael- 
ites, or the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream. Gradu- 
ally a number of these scenes may be worked up, and 
presented separately. Finally, they may be woven 
into a continuous story and presented on one occa- 
sion. Such a plan allows for a maximum of the 
advantages with a minimum chance of discourage- 
ment. The selection of suitable incidents demands 
some ability to read between the lines and to imagine 
or visualize the physical features of the incidents, so 
that these in turn may be made to carry the lesson 
naturally. In dramatic action, it is essential that the 
thing to be taught shall be vitally connected with the 
movement, and not be merely tacked on in words. 

2. Building the dramas 

This is, of course, the part of the work that gives 
the teacher the greatest educative opportunity and 
responsibility. If this is well done, the final presenta- 

36 



How to Construct 

tion merely, becomes the pleasant, natural climax of 
the whole interesting experience. In order to make the 
most of it, the teacher must cordially realize the whole 
remarkable opportunity, by means of the child's 
play and dramatic impulses, to give him interest in 
the sayings and actions of great characters; to inspire 
him to analyze and study situations and to discover 
the essential and striking elements in them; to enable 
him to visualize from words the practical " business " 
that will sincerely present a situation; to motivate, 
as a step toward success, the mastery of many details 
of surroundings, customs and the like; to cause him 
to appreciate, beneath the words, the spirit that 
makes the incident sincere and real, and thus enable 
him to sense something of good and bad character 
and motives back of action. The great and peculiar 
pedagogical value of all this is that guidance in doing 
all these things for the play can be made impressive 
without the unwholesome reaction that often comes 
in the individual when the moralizing and preachments 
are directed toward him, in the way we are all familiar 
with in church-school teaching. It has the advan- 
tage which all indirect and informal education has 
over the direct types. 

Unfortunately, the method of making up the drama 
in most cases is limited by the small amount of time 
that can be given to it. The suggestions made below 
will be based on the assumption that the teacher and 
the class may somehow find all the time that is neces- 
sary to get the best educational results in at least one 

37 



The Dramatic Instinct 

drama. This will mean for a brief period the whole 
church-school time, and one or two hours a w T eek 
besides. 1 

Let us assume that a class of boys with a dozen 
members has been asked to present a ten-minute play- 
as a part of an opening service for the church school. 
The teacher's task is to get the maximum motivation 
of all the members of the class to enter into the task 
and to do it well. How can this be done to the best 
advantage? The following will suggest what is 
possible for the teacher and the class to do together: 

(1) Make the announcement, explain the oppor- 
tunity, emphasize the situation in such a way as to 
get the boys to want to do it. 

(2) Ask each boy to look through what he knows of 
his Bible and to talk with his parents, in an effort 
to pick out what would seem to him a good story to 
use, and then prepare himself to tell the story to the 
class in such a way as to convince them of its value. 
.This will require quite a little careful work, and the 
class will both learn a good deal of biblical matter and 
get more interest in the problem by discussing the 
merits of the different stories. Select the story after 
full comparison and discussion. 

1 The somewhat more ambitious and elaborate plans of Elizabeth 
Erwin Miller, as described in The Dramatization of Bible Stories, 
(University of Chicago Press) were carried out through the organiza- 
tion of a dramatic club, which met for an hour each Sunday after- 
noon for a number of years. Such dramatic clubs could well be made 
a most valuable auxiliary of both Junior and Intermediate depart- 
ments. Good leadership will insure their success under any reason- 
able conditions. 

38 



How to Construct 

(3) Assume that the Parable of the Good Samaritan 
has been selected. Let the teacher tell the story of 
the parable in a dramatic way, with suitable emphasis. 
Ask all the boys to study it during the next week, and 
report at the following meeting on the number of 
characters that ought to be provided, how many 
scenes or pictures ought to be arranged to bring out 
the sense, what should be shown in each scene and the 
action necessary to do this effectively, and other things 
of the sort that will determine the action and the 
dialogue. All of this will furnish further opportunity 
for study and discussion that will cover the condi- 
tions and setting of the incident. 

(4) At this meeting, if agreement can be reached 
as to the characters to be represented, and similar 
details, any one of several effective plans might then 
be followed. Perhaps a good arrangement would be 
to give each scene to a different committee, asking 
each to be prepared to give a beginning of dialogue 
and action at the next meeting. These could meet and 
independently plan their scene in the interval. At 
least three scenes may be arranged: (a) Preparation 
for the journey, in which an introduction and anticipa- 
tion of trouble will give expectancy; (b) the actual 
attack by robbers; and (c) the significant behavior of 
the Priest, Levite, and Samaritan. 

(5) The building of the action and the dialogue is 
the supreme occasion for the teacher to make the 
incident educative. By encouraging the acting of the 
scenes by members of the class, by inviting criticism 

39 



The Dramatic Instinct 

of this coupled with illustrative action by the other 
members, and by skilfully directed questions, the 
teacher can bring out all the powers of appreciation, 
interpretation, discrimination, and expression which 
the boys have. He can develop interest in all neces- 
sary geography, social customs and conditions, traits 
of human nature, and the like, in the simple and 
essential task of finding proper action and dialogue. 

For example, shall we have the traveler confident 
of his safety, or afraid that he will be robbed? What 
about his friends? What kind of a conversation 
would they have? How would they greet one 
another? How can we make it most interesting and 
still keep it true and probable? Would a report of a 
robbery on the road yesterday do this? If the mer- 
chant was compelled to go alone in spite of this, the 
rumor would add dramatic interest. Even a little 
bravado on his part might help. What would his 
friends say on such an occasion? How would he 
answer? Gradually it can be made clear that the 
dialogue will depend on the general circumstances and 
on the character of the parties. The boys will enter 
with zest into the game of finding a suitable next 
speech. Even though the lines may not be so good 
as if an expert prepared them, it is a great loss of 
opportunity not to give the boys a chance to do this 
for themselves. 

(6) During this preparatory stage, the play should 
be presented many times, not with memorized words, 
but rather spontaneously. Much shifting of the 

40 






How to Construct 

members to the different characters should be tried, 
The boys should be invited to comment on the 
changes brought out in these shifts. Every boy should 
be allowed to try his hand at several roles. 

(7) After the class has done its best, the teacher or 
some member of the school who has some gift in this 
sort of thing can, if it is thought wise, polish up the 
dialogue and adapt the words somewhat to the Bible 
style. All such changes should be submitted to the 
class, however. If the suggestions are really improv- 
ing, the boys can be depended on to sense the fact. 
The effort will be good practice for them, increase 
their feeling of responsibility, and give a basis of com- 
parison and estimate of their own efforts. 

(8) The selection of those to present the various 
characters in the final performance should be demo- 
cratically made by the children themselves on the 
basis of faithfulness and efficiency in the preliminary 
work and of suitability to the parts. 

(9) Very little staging or costuming is necessary, 
though it will be found that a little attempt at both 
will please the young actors. It may be nothing but 
some straw, or a rug, or a rock; it still is an aid to the 
imagination. A turban or a belt or some unusual 
little piece of drapery to distinguish his particular 
character will help the boy to " feel " his part. It 
is better in every way, however, not to overdo the 
accessories. 



41 



The Dramatic Instinct 

3. Presenting the drama 

While the final presentation is, from one point of 
view, merely one of a series, nevertheless the educa- 
tional value of this final occasion will not be greatest 
for the actors themselves unless they appreciate that 
they are trying to produce a state of mind on the part 
of the audience. This is to say that they must 
believe in the sincerity of the story. Every child and 
eveiy word and action must be subordinated to hav- 
ing the audience get, through them, the purpose and 
effect of the story. They must feel that their success 
consists, not in beauty and artistic production, but in 
making everybody understand very clearly what it is 
all about. Let each of them become for the time 
being a preacher and an advocate through his presen- 
tation. They want to convince their audience. This is 
why they must enter into their part, know it, and live 
it very sincerely for those few minutes. That is why 
they must know their lines and all the other things 
they have learned, but will not say. All the outside 
things they have learned are just to help them do 
this one thing well. 

In the interest of success in this, it seems best not 
to drag out too long the practice and preparation. 
Nothing is gained, and much of spirit is lost through 
" going stale. " This is one advantage in the short 
episode over the complex one. 

The educational value of these dramatizations for 
those children who merely see them given must not 
be forgotten. It is perfectly safe to say that any of 

42 



How to Construct 

these biblical stories will make a more lasting impres- 
sion on those children who merely see and hear it 
given by other children than any amount of ordinary 
teaching would secure. The publ c presentation is 
both a good expressive device for those who play in 
it and a good teaching device for others. 

4. A suggestive list of Bible episodes suitable for 
dramatic acting or for pageants: 

The Story of the Fall and Banishment from the 
Garden; The Story of Cain and Abel ; The Separation 
of Abraham and Lot; Abraham's Plea for Sodom; 
Abraham and Isaac; Isaac and Rebekah; The 
Migrations of Abraham. (This would offer the 
opportunity for a good spectacle illustrating the 
nomadic life, the migrations, the domestic customs, 
patriarchal customs, the educational and religious 
practices of these early people as portrayed in the 
Bible. Songs, plays, home and field life could be 
introduced that would give a part to people of all ages. 
This would require the whole end of the church, or the 
church-school room, if it can be opened to the audi- 
torium, as a stage; or it might be given as a summer 
spectacle, out of doors); Esau and Jacob; History 
of Joseph; Saving the Baby Moses; The Incident of 
the Golden Calf; Moses pleading with Pharaoh for 
Israel to leave Egypt; The Spies and Canaan; The Sin 
of Achan; Joshua and the Gibeonites; Gideon's Ex- 
ploits; The Strength and Fall of Samson; The Story 
of Ruth; The Call of Samuel; Samuel and David; 
Saul Anointed King; David and Goliath; David and 
Saul; David and Jonathan; Visit of the Queen of 
Sheba to Solomon; Story of Esther; Naaman the 
Leper; Elijah on Mount Carmel; Elijah and Elisha; 
Elijah and the Shunammite Woman; Elisha and 

43 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Jezebel; The Twenty-third Psalm (Pantomime); 
The Story of the Birth of Jesus; " The Other Wise 
Man " (Van Dyke); Parable of the Good Samaritan; 
Parable of the Ten Virgins; Parable of the Loving 
Father (Prodigal Son); Parable of the Talents; 
Parable of the Judgment. 

In " Pilgrim's Progress " are many simple scenes 
which may be given singly or in series: " Before the 
Wicket-gate," " The Palace Beautiful," " Doubting 
Castle," " At the Celestial Gate." 

5. Conclusion 

The writer wishes to repeat, in closing, that all 
this is suggested merely as a means to an end. It is 
believed that children have a natural inclination to 
play and to act; that this inclination is good, and not 
bad; that this impulse may be used to get the child 
to study the biblical stories with more purpose and 
emotional openness and enthusiasm than can be had 
in any other way. The hearty attitude will mean 
that he will do more work, will enter more fully into 
the spirit of it, will remember it better, will assimilate 
more of it in his life, and will have a fonder feeling 
for the stories because he has got real pleasure and 
satisfaction in connection with them. It means 
more labor for everybody than routine teaching 
requires; but it presents numerous points at which 
personality is more surely and more helpfully reached. 
We need to work for variety, interest, and efficiency 
in our moral and religious teaching beyond anything 
we have yet accomplished. This is one form of use of 
the " project method " in developing character. 

44 



PART II 

SPECIMEN BIBLICAL DRAMAS 



FOREWORD 

It is the purpose in this section to give the simple 
dramatic treatment of a few of the shorter and longer 
incidents that have been actually developed and used 
in a church school. There is no thought that the 
working out of these stories is the best possible or 
even exemplary. They are merely offered as illustra- 
tions of what may be done in any good church school, 
by very busy people, and without any special organi- 
zation or machinery. Of course, it does demand a 
few teachers who are already sympathetically alert 
to the needs of the children and who are consecrated 
to the task of meeting these needs pedagogically, and 
who have some imagination and ingenuity in securing 
the full cooperation of the children. 

It is conceived that even the obvious crudities 
which any dramatic expert can readily find in them 
are an asset rather than a liability. It is important 
that the pedagogical end, rather than the artistic, 
shall be put foremost. We are striving for the motiva- 
tion of study and the appreciative acceptance of 
truths of individual and social significance, and not 
merely for artistic or literary training, though the 
latter need not be ignored. For these ends, there is 
more value in making the drama than in presenting it. 
Presenting it in public is an additional pleasure- 
premium for the children which aids in motivation. 

47 



The Dkamatic Instinct 

Of course, any teacher is perfectly free to make any 
use of these plays that may be found possible. It is 
confidently believed, however, that the best possible 
use is for the teacher to study them merely as an aid 
in guiding the building up of original dramas by the 
class or group that is to give them. Where time is an 
object and division of labor is desired, an older class 
may dramatize an incident for a younger class. In 
such a case it is clearly necessary to hold the older 
children continually close to the pedagogical needs of 
the younger class. 



48 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN 

(Based on Luke 10 : 25-37) 

BY CLARA BAKEK 

Scenery 

Act I. A street in Jerusalem. This may be left en- 
tirely to the imagination, or the back of the stage 
may be arranged with screens to represent 
Eastern doorways. 

Act II. The Jericho Road. This must be made as 
steep and rougfi as possible. Rocks or a slope 
must be simulated, against which Abiezer may 
recline, and from behind which the robbers may 
steal. 

Costumes 
Abiezer: Man's long robe and girdle, abba, turban, 

sandals, staff and scrip. May wear a con- 

spicious ring. 
Kemuel, Elidad, Shammah: Men's long robes, white 

or colored, with girdle; striped abbas or long 

wraps; turbans or head clothe; sandals. 
Priest: Man's long robe and outer wrap bound round 

the head, both white; white girdle and white 

sandals. Carries roll or parchment. Phylactery 

is bound on forehead. 
. 40 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Levites: Men's long robes, striped abbas, turbans and 

sandals. 
Abidan: Short, striped tunic, girdle, turban and 

sandals. Carries scrip. 
Robbers: Short, dark-gray or brown tunics, turbans, 

girdles, and sandals. 

Directions for Making Costumes 
Men's long robe: Made like bathrobe; neck cut low 
in back and front; no fulness on shoulders; reaches 
to fett. If necessary for more freedom of motion, 
side seams may be opened up one third of the way from 
the bottom of the garment. Sleeves long and full, 
coming down to wrist in front, six inches longer and 
pointed in back. If this garment is made of striped 
material, stripes always go around the sleeves. 

Men's abba: Made of cambric, twenty-seven inches 
wide; amount four times the length of figure from 
shoulder to floor, with twelve inches additional for 
hem. Cut into two equal pieces. Stitch two selvage 
edges together, making a strip one and a half yards 
wide and one half the original length. Fold across, 
thus making the shoulders without seam. Cut round 
opening for head, and slash nine inches down for 
front. Bind or face. Stitch halfway up from bottom 
on both sides; leave opening above for armhole. 
The extreme width of the garment gives the effect of 
sleeves. The abbas were usually striped — this 
effect may be obtained by sewing widths of different 
colored materials together. 

50 



The Good Samaritan 

Men's outer wrap (used interchangeably with abba ). 
Made of a strip of cloth about six yards in length, 
and a \~ard and a half in width. Fasten on left hip, 
carry up over right shoulder, over head (if desired), 
holding it in place by binding cord around the fore- 
head; carry back to left hip, catching loosely there 
and leaving arm free; let end drop to hem of robe 
behind. If not carried over the head, turban or short 
head cloth should be worn. 

Men's short tunic: Take three times the length of the 
figure from shoulder to six inches below the knee of 
material twenty-seven inches wide, and add nine 
inches for hem. Cut in three equal parts. Cut 
one part in four equal strips lengthwise. Stitch one 
of these strips on each edge of the other two, giving 
two strips of equal length, forty inches wide. Sew 
across one end for shoulders. Proceed for opening 
for head as in abba. Twelve inches down from 
shoulder slash nine inches in from edge to form sleeve, 
sloping section down to outer edge of bottom of tunic. 
Hem bottom of sleeves, and turn up three inches on 
bottom of tunic. Sew up sides of tunic and of sleeves. 
If a striped tunic is desired, make same as striped- 
abba, using pieces of material not more than three 
inches in width. To be worn with turban and girdle. 
If tunic or long robe is plain in color, use striped abba, 
outer wrap, turban and girdle, and vice versa. 

Men's girdle: Nine inches in width, and long 
enough to go around the waist and fasten comfortably. 

51 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Men's turban: One and one half yards of material 
twenty-seven inches wide wound round the head. 

Men's head-cloth: Made of a yard or more of cloth, 
bound round the forehead by a cord, ends touching 
the shoulders in the back. 

Men's sandals: May be made of slipper soles or. 
heavy leather cut in shape of foot, pierced, with 
thong inserted; this is brought up between first two 
toes and around ankle, or across foot and around heel. 

Scrip or wallet: A bag of khaki or skin, slung from 
the shoulders by straps. 

Phylactery: A case of dark leather, about two and 
one half inches square, bound with thongs on forehead 
just between the eyes. 

CHARACTERS REPRESENTED 

Abiezer, a spice merchant of Jerusalem 

Shammah 

Kemuel > Friends of Abiezer 

Elidad 

Abidan, a Samaritan 

Priests , Levites, Robbers 

THE GOOD SAMARITAN 

Act I 
Jerusalem, street near city gate 
Shammah, Kemuel, and Elidad stand talking. 
Kemuel: Yonder cometh Abiezer the merchant. 
Shammah: He hath the air of one who goeth on a 
journey. 

52 



The Good Samaritan 

Enter Abiezer 

Abiezer: Peace be unto you. 

All: And upon thee peace. 

Elidad: Where goest thou so -early, good Abiezer? 
The sun is scarcely yet above the eastern hills. 
X Abiezer: The day is yet young, and that is well. 
For I take the Jericho road this morning, and the 
way is long and dusty. 

Shammah: The Jericho road! 

Elidad: Surely thou goest not down to Jericho alone? 

Abiezer: Yea, verily. Wherefore not? 

Kemuel: Hast thou not heard how Ibzau the Beth- 
lehemite was set upon by thieves and murdered 
as he was coming up from Jericho? Gershom, 
his servant, alone escaped to bring the news. 
The market rang with it but yesterday! 

Abiezer: Nay, I heard it not. I was not in the market 
yesterday. But that signifieth nothing! Belike 
this servant himself did slay his master, and 
telleth a tale of robbers to cover his own guilt. 
I fear not. 

Elidad: Nay, my friend, I beg of thee, be not so rash. 
There is without doubt a band of wicked men who 
lurk on that lonely road! Some evil will befall 
thee! 

Abiezer: I have my trusty staff and cudgel, and my 
arm is stout to wield them. Have I not traveled 
this road in safety many times? Yea, and even 
from Beersheba unto Dan. Shall ye in a 
moment make of me a coward? 
53 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Shammah: But at least take thou a servant with thee. 

Ahiezer (impatiently): Abdul have I sent to Joppa, 
and Malluch hath a sickness, and the rest I 
cannot spare from the work to which I have 
set them. Prithee detain me no longer. My 
business is urgent and cannot wait. 

Kemmuel: Stay, good Abiezer, let — 

Abiezer (interrupts): Nay now, friend Kemuel, tell 
me the rest on my return! Farewell, and may 
peace remain with you. 

All: May the peace of Jehovah go with thee! 

Exit Abiezer 
Kemuel: I like it not. Jehovah grant him a safe 
return! 

All shake heads doubtfully 7 and exeunt. 

Curtain 

Act II 

The Jericho road, mid-day, Abiezer sits by way- 
side, eating and drinking. 

Abiezer: Truly, Shammah and the rest were con- 
cerned as to my journey! " Thieves! Robbers! 
Murder! " they did croak, like frogs in the 
marshes! Thieves and robbers, indeed! 
First Robber steals in from back of stage, beckoning to 
comrade. 

54 



The Good Samaritan 

Abiezer: Yea, friend Elidad, without doubt there be 
thieves and robbers along this way! With my 
own eyes I saw them — the little foxes that steal 
the grapes, and the cowardly jackals that flee 
and hide! Ha, ha, ha! 

Robbers advance noiselessly 
When I return with my purchase of spices, how 
I will laugh at them and their fears! Hark! 

Turns, just as Robbers fall upon him 
Help! Murder! Help! 

Struggles but is soon overpowered 

First Robber: There! Now is he quiet enough. Make 
haste, take off that robe! 

Second Robber: A well-lined purse, indeed! He travel- 
eth well stocked with gold. 

First Robber: Yea, and here is a jeweled ring. Come 
now r , we have all that is worth the taking. The 
sun will make an end of him! 

Exeunt Robbers 

Curtain 

Act III 

Scene: The same. Abiezer still lies unconscious 
Enter Priest in white robes, reading as he walks 
Lev. 19 : 18; Deut. 6 : 5 

Priest: Ah! What have we here? {Draws back 
robes.) Some prowling vagabond, perchance, 
hath met his just deserts. I will not soil my con- 
55 



The Dramatic Instinct 

secrated robes for him. The day groweth late, 
and belike he is dead already. 
Exit Priest 
Enter Levites 
First Levite: See, yonder lieth a man, dead or dying. 

Shall we not stop and see? 
Second Levite : Nay, haste thee on. He is naught to 

us. Let us not defile ourselves. 
First Levite: I like not to leave him so. Surely I 

heard him groan! 
Second Levite : Thou foolish one! The hills are full of 
robbers. Shall we imperil our lives for -a half- 
naked wretch by the wayside? Besides, our 
business brooketh no delay. Come! 
Exeunt Levites 
Enter Abidan 
Abidan: What now? A man, and in a sorry plight, 
methinks (kneels beside him). Ah, he hath been 
cruelly beaten. But there is yet life in him. 
Partly raises him and gives him draught of wine. 
Abiezer opens eyes, moans. 
Abidan: Good friend, thou hast been grievously 

mistreated. Canst tell by whom? 
Abiezer: I was set upon by robbers. They took all I 
had and left me here half dead. What doest 
thou? 
Abidan: See, I bind up thy wounds with healing oil. 
Canst take another draught of wine? 
56 



The Good Samaritan 

Abiezer: May Jehovah reward thee! I lay here burn- 
ing in the sun, I could not speak nor move, yet 
I seemed to know that other men passed by, 
and none would stop to give me aid. TVho art 
thou? 

Abidan: I am of the province of Samaria, and like 
thyself, a traveler. 

Abiezer: Thou art a Samaritan! And thou hast had 
pity on me, who am a Jew? 

Abidan: Yea, verily. For though the Jews despise 
the Samaritans and have no dealings with them, 
still thou art in sore need and trouble, and mercy 
is sweet to him who giveth, as to him who doth 
receive. Come, let me help thee to the nearest 
inn! 

tain 



THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS 

(Based on Matthew 25 : 1-18) 

BY FAY FISHER 
SUGGESTIONS 

Scenery 

Scene I. Interior of Oriental House. A few Oriental 
rugs; a divan formed of a mattress laid on the 
floor and covered with a striped Bagdad and piled 
with brightly covered cushions; a palm or two, 
and any bit of brass work. 

Scene II. Interior of Oriental House. Same as 
Scene I, except that a general air of confusion 
reigns. Some fancy-work has been dropped, a 
garment is flung across the divan, and pillows are 
on the floor. 

Scene III. Entrance to Oriental House. Two 
screens may be set at an angle across a corner of 
the stage and covered with light-brown paper, 
blocked off to represent a stone wall; an arch over 
the entrance, entwined with flowers and decorated 
with one or more brass lanterns is effective. 
If possible, a door should open from the plat- 
form, in the space concealed by the screens, so 
that the bridal procession can pass through and 
off the platform, without being seen again by 
audience. 

58 



The Wise axd Foolish Virgins 

Stage Properties 
Oriental lamp: About four inches in length, oval in 
shape; a small spout at one end, a handle curving 
up and over on the other, usually made of pottery or 
silver. Pictures or models can easily be obtained. 
The lamps may be modeled of plasticene in dark blue 
or green, to represent pottery — or in any shade, and 
covered with silver paper to represent silver. 

Costumes 

Five Wise Virgins: Women's long robes, veils and 
sashes, white or colored; thin, flesh-colored stockings 
and white sandals. Colors should be delicate, and 
great attention paid to details. 

Five Foolish Virgins: Same as Wise Virgins, except 
that the colors are gaudy, the whole effect untidy. 

Other Maidens in Bridal Procession : Costumes same 
as above. 

Directions for Making Costumes 
Women's robe: Made like a kimono, reaching to the 
feet. Sleeves long and full, covering half the hand in 
front, six inches longer in the back, coming to a point. 
Amount needed, about seven yards of material twenty- 
seven inches wide, six yards thirty-six inches wide. 

Women's veil: One yard wide, two or more yards 
long; sometimes caught in a little at the back of the 
head; often reaching to the bottom of the dress. 

Women's sash: Nine inches in width, and long 
enough to knot on left side, with hanging ends. 

59 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Women's sandals: The soles of bedroom slippers, 
pierced and laced over foot with white thongs; or 
white barefoot sandals; thin, flesh-colored stockings. 





CHARACTERS 


REPRESENTED 


Mary 




Tirzah 




Elizabeth 




Martha 




Philippa 


►Wise Virgins 


Esther 


►Foolish Virgins 


Huldah 




Salome 




Leah 




Ruth 





Other Maidens in Bridal Procession. 



THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS 

In One Act 

Scene 1 

Bethlehem. A house interior — neat and well 
arranged. 

The five Wise Virgins are discovered putting the 

finishing touches on one another's costumes, and, later, 

filling their lamps with oil. 

Leah: It is well that we are early, in order that we 
may be in good time to walk in the bridal pro- 
cession. 

Huldah: It is well, yet I had a temptation to finish 
the weaving I had begun this afternoon. The 
design fascinated me, and I was loath to leave it. 
But I took thought for you others, and made 
myself ready. 

60 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins 

Mary: Unselfish Hulclah! Always she taketh thought 
for the others. 

Huldah: Thou praiseth me too much, clear. 

Leah (smiling): Sisters, contend not over the matter. 
but let us fill our lamps and be on our way. 

Elizabeth: But need we fill our lamps before starting? 
Surely we may find oil there. Yet — prudence — 
(breaks off, undecided). 

Philippa (quickly and impatiently) : Ay, prudence! 
Always prudence! Why should we burden our- 
selves when it is not needful? 

Mary: But were it not better, dear, to bear the slight 
burden, than to cause trouble and vexation per- 
haps, for some other, who must provide us with 
oil? 

Leah: It is possible, too, that we might not be able 
to get oil there. Come, let us bear it with us. 

Huldah: Ay, let us bear it along. 

Philippa: If ye wish it, I will be content. 

They busy themselves in bringing the lamps and 

filling them, then file out, each bearing her lamp. 

Curtain 

Scene 2 
Another house interior in Bethlehem. Rather slovenly 
and in confusion. Three Foolish Virgins are dis- 
covered. Tirzah and Esther are making themselves 
ready in leisurely manner, (L) and Martha, (R) is 
hu. tied with somejiand-work. 

61 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Tirzah: Is it not time, Martha, that thou shouldst 

make thyself ready? 
Esther: Urge her not to haste, Tirzah. 
Martha {with a little frown) : I like not leaving my 

work. It fascinates me. I will not go until I 

must. 
Tirzah: It is true, we need not hasten. Salome and 

Ruth will assuredly wait for us in the next street, 

if we come not to our meeting-place at the 

appointed time. 
Martha: Ay, and surely the bridal procession will 

await our coming. 
Esther who has gone to the back of the stage while 
Priscilla and Martha speak, stands at door in 
listening attitude. 
Esther: Hark! (cymbals). (Rushes forward to grasp 

Martha's veil and force it on her.) Sisters, it is 

the cymbals of the bridal procession that I hear. 

Oh, let us hasten, hasten! 
Tirzah (who has taken Esther's place at door): Ah! 

I can see the glare of the torches! Haste, haste! 
Martha (rising in confusion and trying to adjust her 

veil): Our lamps! Where are they? 

Stands helplessly, while Tirzah rushes out after 
them. 

Tirzah: I will find them. 

Esther: (in great haste and excitement) : And oil! Shall 
we take oil? 

62 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins 

They stand parleying on threshold. Esther has 
hand on door, is on point of departure. 
Martha: I know not whether we have oil here. We 

had not taken thought of that. But we have no 

time now. Why burden ourselves with it? 
Esther: Ay, they may easily provide us oil there. 

It will be given us. Why burden ourselves? 

Let us be off! We must meet Ruth and Salome. 
They start. 
Tirzah {pokes head in at door): I have at last found 

three old lamps. One is cracked, but it must 

serve. We need take no oil. Come! I fear we 

will not meet Salome and Ruth. 

Exeunt 



Scene 3 

Singing behind scenes before curtain rises; double 
mixed quartet. When curtain rises, the procession is 
singing the closing lines, supported by quartet behind 
scenes. 

{Sung to the tune of " Jerusalem " by Henry Parker) 

Behold the bridegroom cometh 
Along the torchlit way, 

With joy he leadeth homeward 
A lovely bride this day. 

Then let our shout triumphant 
63 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Be heard the hills along, 

Come all ye friends who love them 

And welcome them with song! 
Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! 

Bridegroom, now as we meet thee, 

Sing we hosanna, 
Bride, now as we greet thee, 

Welcome home! 
Bridegroom, now as we meet thee, 

Sing we hosanna, 
Bride, now as we greet thee, 

Welcome to thy home! 

Scene: House entrance of bridegroom in same town. 

A crowd of Virgins, as many as desired, may be 
passing in procession on to the stage (R) and off through 
the supposed house entrance, with five Wise Virgins 
foremost. Esther, Martha, and Tirzah, on the out- 
skirts, single .out two other girls also on the outskirts, 
but apart from the first three, Ruth and Salome. The 
five come forward and form a group while the others pass 
in. 

Ruth: At last we have found you! Why came ye 

not to the meeting-place? We tired of waiting 

and passed on. 
Tirzah : We were late, and must needs hasten in order 

to walk in the procession. We had no oil, and our 

lamps burned not. Had } r e oil? 
64 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins 

Salome: Nay, we brought none, and our lamps burned 

not. 
Esther: But oil will be provided us. 
Martha: Come, let us go in and slumber until the 
bridegroom cometh. I am weary of all this haste 
and confusion. 
The others: Ay, let us go in. 
They turn in direction of door. 
Curtain 



Scene 4 
Same as Scene 3 

Just before rise of curtain a loud cry is heard behind 
the scenes, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh: go ye out 
to meet him" As curtain rises, Virgins are seen 
trimming lamps and making ready to go. Wise and 
Foolish Virgins in separate groups in foreground, 
Wise at right, Foolish left. 
Esther: Whence shall we procure oil? Oil we must 

have. 
Tirzah: Let us ask the maidens there. I have seen 

that they have abundance of oil. 
Ruth (quickly): Ay! Ask, Tirzah. 

Tirzah and Ruth, followed closely by the other 
three, advance to Wise Virgins. 

Tirzah : I pray ye, give us of your oil, for we have none. 

65 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Ruth {eagerly seconding Tirzah) : And our lamps must 
be burning when the bridegroom cometh. 

The Wise Virgins look at one another questioningly , 
and appear to consult over the matter. At last Leah 
steps forward. 

Leah: Nay, we may not give you of our oil, for we have 
not enough for ourselves and you. 

Martha: But give, we pray you. 
Mary (sadly): Alas! We may not give. 
Philippa: Sisters, we must go, for the bridegroom is 
come. 

The Wise Virgins pass in. 

Salome: What now? We have no oil. There is no 

time to go and buy it. 
Esther: No oil, and we may not go in to the marriage! 

They that were ready have gone in, and the door 

is shut. 
The others: Alas! Woe is me! 
Rath: Despair not. Perchance we may enter though 

our lamps burn not. 
Tirzah: Ay. Come, Ruth, go we to importune the 

doorkeeper. (To the three others.) Remain ye 

here. 
Esther, Salome and Martha listen anxiously. 
Ruth and Tirzah may be heard behind the scenes. 
Ruth: Lord, I pray thee, let us pass in. We are 

invited guests, 

66 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins 

Tirzah: And have delayed only for that our lamps 
burned not. Open unto us. 

Doorkeeper: The marriage is begun, and I know you 
not. 

Ruth: But open unto us. 

Doorkeeper: Nay. (Weeping and wailing — and 

gnashing of teeth if desired — from three on stage. 

Ruth and Tirzah return.) 
Tirzah: We may not enter. We must turn away. 
Martha (cries out bitterly): Oh, why brought we not 

oil in our lamps! 



67 



THE CHILD MOSES 

(Based on Exodus 2 : 1-10) 

BY CLARA BAKER 
SUGGESTIONS 

Scenery 

Act I. Interior of Oriental House. Rugs on floor, 
shabby. Divan formed by mattress laid on 
floor, covered with dark shawl. Pillows. Chest 
at one side, set out a little from wall. 

Act II. Scene 1. 

Light dim. Bank of Nile — a gentle incline. 
(Boards covered with green crepe paper with 
undulating grassy effect may be utilized.) Bul- 
rushes with long pointed leaves fashioned from 
dark green crepe paper, stems stuck in bank; 
intermingled with brown cattails if these are 
obtainable. Several palms intermingled, with 
the tubs in which they stand hidden by bulrushes. 
The bank must be so arranged (as regards posi- 
tion) that Moses may be hidden behind it. Ark 
of bulrushes; a large oblong basket without 
handles, woven of broad splints stained dark 
green and thickly varnished, to represent pitch: 
cushioned on the inside. 
Scene 2. 

Same as Scene 1, with brighter light- 
OS 



The Child Moses 

Costumes 

The Mother of Moses: Women's robe, veil, sash, and 
sandals. 

Miriam: White tunic, sash, thin, flesh-colored stock- 
ings, white sandals. 

Moses: In Jewish swaddling clothes. 

The Princess: Women's robes, purple, very rich; 
embroidered sash and veil; thin, flesh-colored 
stockings and white sandals; chains around 
neck, coins across forehead, heavy bracelets. 

Ladies-in-waiting to the Princess: Women's robes, 
sash, veil and sandals; less sumptuous than the 
Princess' but gorgeous in coloring and ornamenta- 
tion. 

Directions for Making Costumes 
Women's robe, veil, sash and sandals: As described 
in The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 

GirVs tunic: Measure three times the length of 
figure from shoulder to six inches below the knee of 
material twenty-seven inches wide, and add nine 
inches for hem. Cut in three equal parts. Cut one 
part in four equal strips lengthwise, stitch one of 
these strips on each edge of the other two, giving two 
strips of equal length forty inches wide. Sew across 
one end for shoulders. Cut round opening for head. 
Cut nine inches down from front of opening for head, 
and bind or face. Twelve inches down from the 
shoulder, slash nine inches in from the edge to form 

69 



The Dramatic Instinct 

sleeve, sloping section down to outer edge of bottom 
of tunic. Hem bottom of sleeves and turn up three 
inches on bottom of tunic. Stitch up sides of tunic 
and of sleeves. 

Girl's sash and sandals: Like women's sash and 
sandals in preceding play, The Wise and Foolish 
Virgins. 

Infant's Swaddling Band: The babe is laid diagonally 
on a piece of white cloth a yard square; one corner is 
turned under its head, one over its feet, and two over 
its body. The whole is then fastened by bands about 
five inches wide and five yards long, starting under 
the left arm and wound around and around, con- 
fining arms and whole body, and tied in knot to make 
firm. 

CHARACTERS REPRESENTED 

Moses j a child three months old. 

The Mother of Moses. 

Miriam y sister to Moses. 

The Princess, Daughter of Pharaoh, Ruler of Egypt. 

Iris 

Masanath f Ladies-in-waiting to the Princess. 

Nari, and others 

THE CHILD MOSES 

Act I 
Interior of humble Hebrew dwelling. Mother 
seated, with child. 

Mother: Hush, my son, my little one! Sleep, sleep, 
sleep! She trots him on her knees and hums softly. 
70 



The Child Moses 

Now thou art quiet at last. Oh, my precious one, 

how shall I save thee from the cruel Egyptians? 

'Twas an evil day for Israel when Pharaoh de- 
creed that every man-child of the Hebrews should 

be drowned in the Nile! 
Enter Miriam in great excitement. Noise of tramping 

behind the scenes. 
Miriam: Mother! The soldiers are coming! 

Mother starts up, dropping a little garment in 

her haste, and conceals the Child behind a chest. 

Miriam sees and snatches up the garment. 
Miriam: Here, this too! 

Mother hides it also, and both glance hastily 

about to be sure that no other telltale thing is in 

sight. 
Miriam: O mother, is he asleep? 
Mother: Yea, Jehovah be thanked! Pray, Miriam, 

pray that he waken not, nor cry! 

Both stand listening, tense with anxiety. 
Mother: Jehovah grant that they come not in! 
Miriam: Surely they are going by, the noise grows 

fainter! 

Miriam tiptoes to door, peeps out, runs back 

joyously. 
Miriam: Be glad, mother! They are gone. He is 

safe! 

Mother lifts child out and gazes at him sadly. 
Mother: Safe, Miriam! Ah no, never safe. Some 

day, little daughter, they will not pass by. Some 
71 



The Dramatic Instinct 

day they will find him. And thy father, far away, 
toiling under cruel taskmasters, will never see his 
beloved son! 

Drops into chair and hides face in hands. 
Miriam, distressed, kneels at her side. 

Miriam: But, mother, I will watch, oh, so faithfully! 
Surely we can hide him — for three months now 
we have kept him safe! 

Mother: Yea, but he groweth strong and crieth 
lustily. See now, Miriam, dost thou not re- 
member how he wailed and fretted even now, as I 
tried to soothe him to sleep? Had they chanced 
to pass but a little sooner, they must assuredly 
have heard him. Only yesterday they snatched 
the son of Adah from her very arms, and she has 
been careful as have we! 

Miriam: Oh, what shall we do? Will no one help us? 

Mother: There is none to help us but Jehovah, God of 
Israel. Come, let us beseech him again that ho 
will show us a way to save our little one! 

Mother, still holding Child, slips to her knees, 
and Miriam bows head and clasps her hands in 
attitude of prayer. 

Curtain 
Act II. Scene 1. 

Daybreak; a secluded spot on the banks of the Nile. 
Enter Mother carrying Child, and Miriam with the 
ark of bulrushes. 

72 



The Child Moses 

Mother: This is the place. Here the princess cometh 
in the mornings to bathe. 

Miriam: Art thou sure? 

Mother: Yea, I have been often told that it is a deep 
pool by yonder twisted palm tree, 

Miriam: How clear and still the water is! 

Mother: And how thick the rushes grow! Lay the 
ark here among them, daughter. And see, be- 
hind yonder thick clump is the place for thee to 
wait. 

Miriam (half-sobbing as she lays basket down): Oh, I 
am sore afraid to leave him here! Mayhap the 
Princess will not come, or if she cometh she may 
not be kind. 

As Mihiam speaks, the Mothek kneels on one 
knee and arranges the Child's clothing preparatory 
to placing him in the basket. 

Mother: They say she is gentle and gracious, and she 
hath indeed a kindly face. I saw her once. 
Moreover, she hath but to look at him, to know 
that he is a goodly child! Only, do thou be 
patient, and say what I have told thee. 

Miriam: But there may come a poison serpent, or a 
crocodile! 

Kisses Child and holds him close for a second, 
then lays him gently in the ark, pushes it out a little 
way from the bank, and ibises before she speaks. 
Mother: We are in Jehovah's hand, my Miriam! Did 

73 



The Dramatic Instinct 

we not pray him long and earnestly? And shall 
I doubt that my dream was indeed from him? 

Clasps hands and raises her eyes to the sky. 

I know that he will not forsake us! The God 
of our fathers will save my son! 
Curtain 

Scene 2 

Place: the same. Time: some hours later. Miriam 

is crouched among the rushes. Enter Iris and Masa- 

nath, and stroll idly up and down. 

Iris: The princess is late this morning. 

Masanath: Doubtless some one hath delayed her with 
a tale of woe, and thou knowest she is ever ready 
to listen. 

7m: Truly she is a gracious mistress (stops sud- 
denly to listen) . I thought I heard — 

Masanath: What? 

Iris: I know not w T hat it could have been — a faint 
sound — like a child. 

Masanath: I heard nothing. Ah, yonder cometh our 
lady! 

Enter Princess, with Nari and other maidens. 
Iris and Masanath kneel. She motions them to 
rise. 

Princess: Ah, Masanath, Iris, I have kept you wait- 
ing. Now we will make haste. The water 
looketh cool and refreshing. 

Unloose my sandals, Nari. Nari kneels to 
obey. 

74 



The Child Moses 

Iris: There it is again! (^Turns to Masanath.) Dost 
hear it not? 

Princess: What dost thou hear? 

Iris: Only hearken, my lady. (All stand listening.) 
There! Doth it not sound like a child crying? 

Nari (still kneeling): Why, it is a child crying! 
Where can it be? 

Princess: Go and search quickly, all of you! How 
should a child be here? This is my private place, 
no one cometh here but myself and my maidens! 

At her first words the Girls scatter and search 
up and down the bank. 

Masanath (parting rushes which conceal the ark): 
Behold, princess, here is a babe, afloat in an 
ark woven of bulrushes! 

Princess (hastening to the spot): Fetch it hither, 
-Masanath. 

(All watch eagerly while Masanath wades in a 
few steps and brings the ark out.) 

Princess (lifts Child out, and cuddles him): Come, 
thou little one, now do not weep. Is he not a 
proper child? See how plump and strong he is! 
There, there! (Handles him tenderly.) See, 
now he smileth at me! He is quite young. 
Who can have left him here? 

Iris: Some one who loved him, it is plain. See how 
his garments are wrought with cunning needle- 
work! And how cleverly this is fashioned, to 
keep him dry! (Holds up ark.) 
75 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Princess: This must be one of the Hebrews' children. 
Thinkest thou not so, Masanath? 

Masanath: Yes, my lady, I have heard that there is 
great distress amongst them because of the edict 
of Pharaoh. 

Princess: It is indeed a cruel decree, that every man- 
child of the Hebrews shall be slain. In vain have 
I pleaded with my father to revoke it. But i 
will save this child at least. See how he clutcheth 
at my hand! 

Nari: Thou hast a tender heart, O princess! 

Iris: But surely we shall need a nurse for him. 

Masanath: Look, is not this a Hebrew girl? 

All turn, to see Miriam timidly approaching. 

Princess: Speak, child, be not afraid. 

Miriam (kneeling): gracious lady, shall I not go 
and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that 
she may nurse the child for thee? 

Princess: Yea, go. 

Miriam darts off. The Princess looks after her 
and smiles. 

Now all is plain. They have counted on my 
compassion, have they not? 

Nari: Yea, doubtless she hath waited all the morning 
to see what would be done to him. 

7ns: She must have been hidden yonder. Strange 
we did not see her. 

Princess: The child claimed all our eyes. (Lifts a 
locket which hangs about her neck and dangles it 
before the Child to amuse him.) Aha, thou 
76 



The Child Moses 

lovest things that glitter, dost thou not! See, 
I will call thy name Moses, because I drew thee 
out of the water. 

Nari: Here cometh the maid again, and a woman 
with her. 

Masanath: His mother, belike! 

'Enter Miriam and her Mother. Both kneel. 

Princess: Rise, and fear not! 

(She steps forward and lays Child in the 
Mother's arms. 

Woman, take thou this child away; nurse him 
with all loving care, and I will give thee thy 
wages. When he is grown enough, bring him 
unto me, and he shall be as my son. This is my 
signet, — let it be a token to all who would do 
him harm. 

Takes locket from her neck and clasps it on the 
Child's. 

Mother: O princess, I and mine are servants unto 
thee forever! May the Lord Jehovah bless thee 
most abundantly and reward thee all the days of 
thy life! 

Princess: Nay, thank me not. He is a goodl}' child. 
It were a pity to let him perish. We will teach 
him all the learning of the Egyptians, and, who 
knoweth, mayhap he may prove a deliverer for 
thy people! 

(To her Maidens.) Come, we will return now 
to the palace. 

77 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Mother: Jehovah will bless thee, for thou hast had 
pity on them who are oppressed! 
Exeunt Princess and Maidens. 
Mother, Child, and Miriam take center of stage, 
Miriam: O mother, thy dream, thy dream, — it is 
all come true! He is safe now, we shall not need 
to hide him more! 

Mother, clasping Child close, draws Miriam 
to her and gazes upward with joyful reverence. 
Mother: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the 
Lord! In my affliction I cried unto him, and he 
hath answered my cry. Happy is he that hath 
the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in 
Jehovah his God! 

Curtain 



78 



NAAMAN'S QUEST 
(Based on 2 Kings 5 : 1-19) 

BY A CLASS OF GIRLS 
SUGGESTIONS 

Scenery 

Act I. Interior of Naaman's House in Damascus. 
Richly furnished. Oriental rugs and palms. 
One or two divans, formed by mattress laid on 
floor, covered with striped Bagdad and piled 
with cushions. Some pieces of brass-work; 
an open-work swinging lantern, if possible. 

Act II. King Joram's Palace in Samaria. Rich 
rugs; a platform at one end covered with rugs, 
on which stands an armchair, gorgeously draped 
for the king's throne. 

Act III and Act IV. Door of Elisha's House. A 
door leading from platform, if possible; wall 
around should be covered with paper laid off to 
simulate outside of Oriental house. A simple 
arch should be constructed over door and lantern 
hung therefrom. 

Obeisance 
The arms are folded on the chest, and, with head 
well up and knees perfectly stiff, the body is bent 
straight forward from the hips. 
79 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Costumes 
Naaman: In Act I, — Men's short tunic, gorgeous; 
girdle and sandals. In Acts II and III, — 
Armor. 

King Joram: Men's long, full robe of royal purple, 
crown and scepter of gold. 

Elisha: Men's long robe (white), girdle, outer wrap, 
short head-dress, sandals. 

Zahra: Women's long robe (orange), veil, sash, flesh- 
colored stockings, white sandals, much jewelry. 

Tirzah: Girl's tunic (white), striped sash, thin, flesh- 
colored stockings, white sandals. 

Servants to Joram, and Naaman: Men's short tunics 
(dark red, blue, and green), turbans, girdles, 
and sandals. 

Messengers to Joram, Naaman, and Elisha: Men's 
short tunics (gray, brown, or tan), bright girdles 
and turbans, dark sandals, staffs. 

Cupbearer to Joram: Men's short tunic (striped red 
and green), red girdle and turban, dark sandals; 
carries silver tray and goblets. 

Guards in Joram' s Court: Armor. 

Amariah andGehazi: Men's long robes, striped abbas, 
headcloths bound with thongs, dark sandals. 

Directions for Making Costumes 
Men's short tunic: As described in play, The Good 
Samaritan. 

Men's long, fidl robe: Like men's long robe described 

SO 



X a am ax's Quest 

in play The Good Samaritan, except that fulness is 
plaited in on shoulders and in back. 

King's crown: Made of pasteboard and covered 
with gold paper. 

King's scepter: A slender wand, wound smoothly 
with gold paper. 

Men's long robe, outer wrap, abba, turban, short 
head-dress, girdle and sandals: As described in play, 
The Good Samaritan. 

Women's long robe, veil, sash, and sandals: As 
described in play, The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 

GirVs tunic: As described in play The Child 
Moses. 

GirVs sash and sandals : Like women's. 

characters represented 
Naaman, captain of the Syrian army, but a leper. 
J oram, king of Israel. 
Elisha, the prophet of God. 
Zahra, Naaman's wife. 
Tirzah, a Hebrew maiden, taken captive by the 

Syrians — a servant to Zahra. 
Servant to Naaman. 
Messenger to Naaman. 
Amariah, counselor to J or a in. 
Guards in Joram's Court. 
Rehun, servant to Joram. 
Cupbearer to Joram. 
Messenger to Joram. 
Gehazi, servant to Elisha. 
Messenger to Elisha. 

si 



The Dramatic Instinct 

naaman's quest 
Act I 

DAMASCUS A HOUSE INTERIOR 

Tirzah (arranging the pillows on the divan): How 
long a time it seemeth since first these Syrians brought 
me here! And yet I remember it all as if it were but 
yesterday. What a quiet, peaceful night it was, and 
how happy were we all, for we expected my elder 
brother home from the battles! Suddenly we were 
awakened by the shouts of men, the tramp of horses' 
feet, the crying of women and children — there was 
noise and confusion everywhere. I was torn away 
from my loved ones — Oh, would that I might see 
them once again, if only once! Then came the long 
journey to Damascus, the hard ride, the hot sun, the 
cruel soldiers ; but now must I be happy, for my mas- 
ter and mistress are good. Therefore must I not 
mourn. 

Enter Zahra. Tirzah bows and remains standing. 
Zahra reclines on divan. 
Zahra: Ah, Tirzah, little thou knowest how sad I am. 

Thou hast always been happy, hast thou not, 

my little maid? 
Tirzah: Nay, for I am sad when thou art sad. But 

why art thou so unhappy, my mistress? 
Zahra: Dost thou not know? Hast thou not heard? 

Naaman hath the leprosy! 
82 



Naaman's Quest 

Tirzah: Thou canst not mean it! My master is a 

leper? Nay, it cannot be! 
Zahra: It is but too true. He will have to leave the 

city and live among the outcasts, among the 

accursed of the gods! 
Tirzah: Restrain thyself, my mistress. When my 

master cometh in, he will wish to see thee happy. 
Zahra: Nay, I cannot be happy, Tirzah, and yet I 

must seem so when he cometh. 
Tirzah: Would God my lord were in Samaria, with 

Elisha, the prophet of God who dwelleth there! 

For he would cure him of the leprosy! - 
Zahra: There is no cure for leprosy, my child. 
Tirzah: Thou mayest not think so, O my mistress, 

but this man, of all men in the world, can cure 

him, through Jehovah, God of Israel. 
Zahra: Dost thou say, O Tirzah, that there is a man 

in thy land who can do this great work? 
Tirzah: Yea, my mistress. Well I remember him. 

He was used to pass through our village, and 

sometimes he would stop at our house. 
Zahra: O Tirzah, if only it were true! 

Enter N a am an. 

Naaman, I have somewhat to tell thee. My 

little Tirzah saith that there is a prophet in Israel 

who can recover thee of thy disease. Dost 

think it can be true? 
Naaman: Nay, it is but child's prattle. There is 

none who can do that. I have had the greatest 

healer in our kingdom. 
83 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Tirzah: My lord, he doth not heal as do your healers. 
He is a man of God, who healeth in the name of 
Jehovah. When I was a very little girl, he would 
come to our village. The sick crowded the 
streets and he healed them. I saw these miracles 
myself. 

Naaman: I believe not that he could do this. The 
God of the Jews is no more powerful than Rim- 
mon. Thou art a contrary little maiden, Tirzah, 
to insist on worshiping thy God when thou art 
out of the country over which he ruleth. 

Tirzah: He ruleth over the Syrians as well as over the 
Jews. 

Naaman: What thinkest thou, Zahra? The Hebrews 
are a superstitious people. Is it not some fancy 
that lingereth in the little maiden's mind? 

Zahra: I beg thee, go, Naaman. Think of thy king 
and thy country. Thou knowest well 'tis thou 
who hast these many times saved the hosts of 
Syria from the hands of the enemy. And think 
of me, — if thou diest, I die. 

Tirzah: Go, my lord, and thou shalt be made clean 
of the disease. 

Naaman: I would I might lead my army again. To 
feel the spear at my side, and to hear the sound of 
battle, and the noise of chariots! (To Tirzah.) 
It cannot be that thou rememberest rightly. 

Tirzah: I remember well. There was a woman who 
lived not far from us, and one of her arms was 
useless. One time when the man of God was in 
84 



Naaman' s Quest 

our village, she went to him and implored of him 
that he would cure it. This he did, and it was 
good as was the other. She told my mother of 
the miracle. And others were cured as wonder- 
fully as she! 

Naaman: Truly, that were the power of a God 
greater than the gods of Syria! 

Tirzah: My lord, it is true. If thou couldst only talk 
with this man of God, thou wouldst never wor- 
ship more at Rimnion's altar. He telleth how 
Jehovah loveth every one, is merciful and kind, 
and is God of all the world, not only of our 
land. When the prophet entereth the village, 
all the people, even the little children, hasten to 
receive from him his blessing, for they all love 
him. 

Naaman: Surely, he is a wonderful man, if all this be 
true. 

Zahra: Naaman, I sometimes wonder if this little 
maid may not be right about their God, for thou 
knowest Rimmon is a cruel god, and her 
Jehovah, — I could love him! 

Naaman: Thou must not talk in that way, and yet — 
ah, well — What is this man's name, Tirzah? 

Tirzah: He is called Elisha. 

Zahra: If only thou wouldst go, Naaman. Thou 

knowest that the Jews have many ancient 

secrets in their keeping, and perhaps they have 

some knowledge of healing which we know not of. 

85 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Xaaman: I wish I might believe 'twere true. It 
would hurt nothing should I go to the land of 
Israel, and seek this man. (He thinks a moment.) 
Tomorrow will I go to my lord, the king, and 
gain permission to set out upon this quest. 
Then will I journey to Joram, king of Israel, and 
he will direct me to this man. 

Zahra: Thou must be cured! Thou wilt be cured! 
By my very longing I could almost make thee 
well! * 

Tirzah (joyously): My master dear, indeed thou wilt 
be cured! 

Curtain 



Act II 

Palace of the King of Israel. King Joram sur- 
rounded by his court. 
Cupbearer (with low obeisance): Wilt thou have thy 

wine, my lord? 
Joram: Nay, take it away. 

Exit Cupbearer 
(To Servant): Ho, Rehum, send the counselor, 
Amariah, here. 
Rehum (with low obeisance): Yea, my lord. 

Exit Rehum 
Joram: I like it not — this raiding by the Syrians. 
Four towns sacked last week. 

Enter Rehum with Amariah 
86 



Naaman's Quest 

Amariah (with low obeisance) : Thou didst call for me, 
my lord? 

J or am: Yea, I called for thee. What thinkest thou 
of these happenings on our northern border? 

Amariah: I think, my lord, thou and thy land are 
both disgraced. Thy father, Ahab, drove these 
Syrians hence. Since thy accession to the 
throne, they have returned in all their power, and 
harried this country more than ever they did 
before. I would we had an army worthy of the 
name. 

Enter Servant and Messenger 

Servant (with low obeisance): A messenger for the 
king. 

J oram: What wilt thou? 

Messenger (with low obeisence): O king, live forever! 
I come from Naaman, captain of the hosts of 
Syria, who wisheth to speak with thee on a mat- 
ter of peace. 

J oram (to Amariah): Captain of the hosts of Syria! 
We needs must give him audience. 
(To Messenger) : Tell Naaman we await him. 
(Exit Messenger) 

J oram: Dost thou think it is an errand of peace on 
which he cometh? 

Amariah: I know not that, but 'twill do no harm to 
hear what word he bringeth. I know of him well. 
He is the greatest captain of the Syrian hosts 
for lo, these many years. 
87 



The Dramatic Instinct 

J oram: I would I could make peace with Syria's 

king! His hosts are strong, and mine are weakc 

I know not what will come of it. 
Enter Messenger 
Servant (with ioiv obeisance) ; Naaman, captain of the 

hosts of Syria. 

Enter Naaman, with Servants 
J oram: Thou art welcome. What wilt thou? 
Naaman: Benhadad, king of Syria, to Joram, king of 

Israel, greeting. I bring a letter from my 

master. 

He hands it to Amariah. 
Joram: Read thou the letter. 
Amariah (reading): Now when this letter is come 

unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman, 

my servant, to thee, that thou mayest recover 

him of his leprosy. 
Joram: What? Cure him of the leprosy! Am I 

God, to kill and to make alive, that this man 

doth send unto me to recover a man of his 

leprosy? 
(To Amariah): Wherefore consider, I pray thee, 

and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 
Amariah: I cannot tell. He seemeth to be seeking a 

quarrel, and yet perhaps he thinketh. we have 

some art whereby the leprosy may be cured. 
Joram: Nay, nay! It is a plot against me! I will 

have him seized! 
Amariah: Be not rash, my lord. 

88 



Xaamax's Quest 

Naaman (to a Soldier who is with him): Seest thou 

how he keepeth me waiting? He wisheth not 

to do me this favor. 
Servant: Mayhap he knoweth not who can do this 

deed. 

Enter Servant 
Servant (with low obeisance) : A messenger for my lord, 

the king. 
J oram : Bid him enter. 

Enter Messenger 
J oram: What wilt thou? 
Messenger: I am from Elisha, the prophet, who 

sayeth, " Let Naaman now come to me, and he 

shall know there is a prophet in Israel/ ' 
J oram (to Naaman) : Dost thou hear? 
Naaman (with awe): Yea, my lord. It is this man 

whom I seek. To him I go. 
J oram (to Messenger): Tell thy master Naaman 

will come. 
Exeunt Naaman, accompanied by Servants and 
Messenger from Elisha. 

Curtain 

Act III 
Doorway of Elisha' s House. 
Naaman: Is this the dwelling-place of Elisha, the 

prophet? 
Messenger (with obeisance) : Yea, my lord. 
Naaman: What thinkest thou? Can this prophet of 
thy God cure me of the leprosy? 
89 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Messenger: He can, my lord. More than once have 
I seen him do such wonders. 

Naaman: I understand not. How cometh this cure 
without herbs or medicine? 

Messenger: It is through faith in Jehovah, God of 
Israel. 

Enter Gehazi, from house 

Naaman: Comest thou from Elisha? 

Gehazi: I do, my lord. He hath sent me to thee, 
saying, " Go, and wash in Jordan seven times, 
and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou 
shalt be clean." 

Naaman {impatiently): Behold, I thought, He will 
surely come out to me, and stand, and call on 
the name of Jehovah, his God, and strike his 
hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are 
not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, 
better than all the waters of Israel? May I 
not wash in them and be clean? 

Messenger: Nay, did I not tell thee that thy recovery 
would be through faith? 

Naaman: I have no faith in such a cure as that. 

Servant of Naaman: My master, if the prophet had 
bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not 
have done it? How much rather then, when he 
saith to thee, " Wash and be thou clean." 

Naaman: Why should I go? He is only mocking me. 

Gehazi: He is not mocking thee. Go, and thou shalt 
have known a miracle. 
90 



Naaman's Quest 

Naaman: A miracle, — through bathing in the 
Jordan! 

Servant: Nay, my lord, but go. This thing cannot 

harm. Mayhap it may cure. 
Naaman: I would go if I thought it might cure me. 
Servant to Naaman: Remember thy king and thy 

country. For if thou be not cured, who will lead 

the hosts of Syria on to victory? 
Second Servant to Naaman: Remember Zahra, thy 

wife. Thou knowest well her life is bound in 

thine. 
Naaman: For m} r king, my country, and my wife, I 

go. If I be cured, then will I know that the God 

of Israel is God indeed. 

Curtain 

Act IV 
Scene: Same as Act III. 

Naaman: I am cured! The leprosy is gone from me! 
Behold, thou art a true prophet of the true God, 
for now I know that there is no God in all the 
earth, but the God of Israel. Now, therefore, I 
pray thee, take a blessing from thy servant for 
this great good which thou hast done. (Offers 
gifts to Elisha.) 

Elisha: As Jehovah liveth, before whom I stand, I 
will receive nothing. I did it not for gold and 
jewels and fine raiment. 
91 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Naaman: But surety thou wilt receive this from the 
hands of him for whom thou hast worked this 
miracle? 

Elisha: It is Jehovah's deed, and to Jehovah be the 
glory. I will receive nothing. 

Naaman: But think, — thou couldst do many 
things with that which I would give thee. Thou 
couldst feed and clothe the poor. 

Elisha (interrupting) : Thou needst not urge me more. 
My God doth not desire that I do good for pay, 
and I take it not. I have the wherewithal to 
feed men's souls. I would I might feed their 
bodies also — but not with that which might be 
gained through the miracles which Jehovah 
doeth through me. But when thou reachest thy 
home, give thou these things to the poor of thine 
own city. 

Naaman (to Elisha): That will thy servant do. 
Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to 
thy servant two mules' burden of earth from the 
land of Jehovah? In Damascus will I build an 
altar to his name. For thy servant will hence- 
forth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice 
unto other gods, but unto Jehovah. 

Elisha: Thou needest not this load of earth to build 
a shrine for him, for Jehovah's altar is in every 
loyal heart. Yet take the earth, and take my 
blessing with it. Thou shalt prosper in thy land 
for this thing which thou hast done. For Jeho- 
vah doth give his servants blessing. 
92 



Xaaman's Quest 

Xaaman: In this thing pardon thy servant, that 
when my master goeth into the House of Rimmon 
to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, 
and I bow myself in the House of Rimmon: when 
I bow myself in the House of Rimmon, Jehovah 
pardon thy servant in this thing. For I will not 
worship Rimmon in my heart, only must I do 
this thing for my king. 

Elisha: Jehovah will pardon thee for that, if only 
thou worship him in thy heart. 

Naaman: For this great favor do I thank Jehovah 
and the prophet of Jehovah. 

Elisha (arms outstretched): The blessing of Jehovah 
be upon thee. Go in peace. 

Curtain 



93 



JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 

Based on Genesis, Chapters 87 and 41-45, inclusive 
By a Committee composed of 

CLARA M. BAKER, ESTELLA E. BRYANT, ANNE M. BOYD, 
HENRIETTA P. ECKHARD, AND A CLASS OF BOYS. 

SUGGESTIONS 

Appropriate music behind the scenes may be used 
between acts. It doubtless adds to the emotional 
and artistic appeal. 

The number of strictly necessary characters is 
seventeen, but if desired more may easily be utilized 
as guards, attendants, etc. If the number must be 
limited, some of those acting as the twelve sons of 
Israel may also appear, wifch slight changes of cos- 
tume, as officers and wise-men of Pharaoh's court in 
Act II. Joseph, in Acts II and IV, should have at 
least two attendants besides the steward. The play 
was prepared for boys of high-school age, and may 
prove too difficult for those much younger. 

Scenery 
Act I. Scene 1. Hebron. Tent of Israel, which 
occupies the whole stage; several divans, covered 
with striped Bagdads and cushions; if obtain- 
94 . 



Joseph and His Brethren 

able, a bag made of sheepskin (like an oriental 
water-bag) hanging on the wall and a bunch of 
staffs and crooks leaning up in one corner. 

Scenes 2 and 3. The Plain of Dothan, which 
occupies the whole stage. The floor should be 
strewn with sand, and the back of the stage hung 
with dark-green paper to simulate a landscape. 
The doorway through which Joseph is dragged to 
the pit should in some way be covered to give an 
effect of natural exit. 

Act II. Scene 1. Egypt. Palace of Pharaoh. 
Oriental rugs on floor, a small movable platform 
or dais covered with rugs at back of stage, on 
which stands an armchair gorgeously draped for 
king's throne. 

Act III. Scene 1. Egypt, Palace of Joseph. Like 
Pharaoh's palace in Act II, without throne. 

Scene 2. Hebron. Tent of Israel. Like Act I, 
Scene 1. 

Act IV. Egypt, Palace of Joseph, like Act III, 
Scene 1, with the addition of a richly covered 
divan. 

Costumes 

Pharaoh: Men's long, full robe, crown and scepter, 
sash and sandals. Should be richly adorned, and 
have a ring and conspicuous gold chain to bestow 
on Joseph. 

Israel: Men's long, full robes, dark in color, black 
sash, turban, and sandals. Has a long flowing 
white beard and carries a staff. 
95 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Joseph: In Act I and in Act II when he makes his first 
appearance before Pharaoh his costume is like his 
brothers; man's short tunic, with " coat of many 
colors." In Act III and Act IV men's long, full, 
flowing robe, less magnificent than Pharaoh's 
but sufficiently resplendent to show high rank and 
dignity; a gilt band around the head. The ring 
and chain should be worn, and the addition of a 
beard would help to indicate the years that had 
passed since his brothers sold him into Egypt. 

Eleven Sons of Israel: Men's short tunics of gray, tan 
or brown material, with turbans and girdles of 
some bright color; sandals. In Act IV they 
carry gunny sacks filled with straw or excelsior. 

Butler to Pharaoh: Men's short tunic gaily striped, 
with girdle and turban of some plain color; 
sandals. Should carry silver tray and goblets. 

Guards to Pharaoh'' s Court: Men's short tunics in light 
silver gray; helmets, shields, swords, or spears. 
Sandals covered with silver paper. 

Steward to Joseph: Man's long tunic gaily striped, with 
girdle and turban of some plain color; sandals. 

Magicians or Wise-men: Long, full robes of rich colors; 
gay turbans; sandals. They wear long beards 
and carry rolls of parchment. 

Servants to Pharaoh and to Joseph: Men's short, dark 
tunics, striped turbans and girdles, sandals. 

Two methods of salutation are made use of, the 
simple bow and the prostration. The first is used in 

96 



Joseph and His Brethren 

the scenes between Israel and his sons, and by the 
servants of Pharaoh and Joseph. To make the bow, 
the arms are folded on the chest, and with head well 
up and knees perfectly stiff the body is bent straight 
forward from the hips. The prostration signifies 
humble respect and abasement, as when the brothers 
come into the presence of Joseph. First kneel, then 
place the hands palm down on the floor in front, and 
lastly touch the forehead to the floor between the 
hands. 

Directions for Making Costumes 

Metis long full robe, King's crown and scepter: 
As described in play Naaman's Quest. 

Men's girdle, turban, and sandals: As described in 
play, The Good Samaritan. 

Men's short tunic: As described in play, The Good 
Samaritan. 

Joseph's coat of many colors: This may be made as 
are the other striped garments, but with other color- 
ings more striking and attractive. 



characters represented 
Israel (or Jacob) patriarch of Canaan. 
Joseph, Israel's favorite son. 



sons of Israel 



Reuben 


Gad 


Simeon 


Asher 


Levi 


Jssachar 


Judah 


Zebulun 


Dan 


Benjamin 


Naphtali 





97 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 
Butler to Pharaoh. 
Magicians to Pharaoh's Court. 
Guards to Pharaoh's Court. 
Servants to Pharaoh. 
Steward to Joseph. 
Servant to Joseph. 
Servant to Israel. 

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 

Act I 

Sc ene 1 
Hebron; the tent of Israel 
The curtain rises on the Twelve Brothers, sitting 
and standing in groups of three or four, conversing in 
pantomime. Israel, followed by Servant bearing 
coat of many colors, enters at back of stage. The 
Brothers immediately rise and range themselves six on 
a side, while Israel pauses at center back and raises 
both arms high in blessing as he speaks. The Brothers 
bow and then answer in concert. 
Israel: Peace be unto you, my children. 
Brothers: And upon thee, peace! 
Israel (seats himself): Come hither, Joseph, my son, 
the delight of my old age! Take thou this coat, 
I pray thee, this coat of many colors, which marks 
thee prince in all thy father's house and first 
among thy brethren. My blessing goeth with it. 
98 



Joseph and His Brethren 

May it inspire thee to noble deeds, so that thou 
mayst bring honor and glory to the name of thy 
fathers! 

Joseph {kneeling) : I thank thee, my father, that thou 
dost so honor me. 

Rising , he puts the coat on. All the Elder 
Brothers show signs of hatred and jealousy. 

Simeon (aside) : See, our father loveth him more than 
us! 

Levi (aside) : Behold this favorite of our father! 

Joseph: But hear, I pray you, this dream which I 
have dreamed. For behold, we were binding 
sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and 
also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves 
stood round about, and made obeisance to my 
sheaf! 

Levi (aside) : Listen to this dreamer! 

Judah (scornfully): Shalt thou indeed reign over us? 

Simeon: Shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? 

Joseph: Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and 
behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars 
made obeisance to me. 

Israel (rises in astonishment) : What is this dream that 
thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and 
thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves 
to thee to the earth? 

Joseph: My father, I cannot now interpret these 
dreams which the Lord hath given me. In his 
own time he will reveal their meaning. 
99 



The Dramatic Instinct 

The Brothers appear to discuss Joseph and 

his dreams in angry pantomime. 
Reuben (steps forward and bows) : Father, we would 

now depart to feed thy flock in Shechem. 
Israel: Even so, my sons. Farewell, and may peace 

go with you! 

Brothers (bowing) : Peace be unto thee. Farewell. 

Exeunt the Ten Elder Brothers, looking 
hatefully at Joseph, who does not notice them. 
Curtain 

Scene 2 
The plain of Dothan 
The Ten Brothers are sitting and lying in careless 
attitudes near front of stage. Simeon, shading his eyes 
tvith his hand, seems to see something a great way off. 
The others also look intently after he speaks. 
Simeon: Behold, this dreamer cometh! 
Asher: Yea, the dreamer in his gaudy robe! 
Dan: Perchance he hath another dream to relate 

wherein we all again shall bow before him! 
Several (with scornful laughter) : Not I! 
Naphtali: Or he cometh to spy upon us and bring 

back an evil report to Israel our father. 
Levi: Come now therefore, let us slay him and cast 

him into some pit! 
Dan (gleefully) : Then we will see what will become of 

his dreams! 

100 



Joseph and His Brethren 

Judah: But what then should we say to our father? 
At our hands will he require the lad! 

Simeon: We will say, some evil beast hath devoured 
him. 
Reuben, who has begun to look troubUd at 
Levi's speech, comes forward and speaks persua- 
sively. 

Reuben: Nay, now, my brethren, do not sin against 
the child! 

They turn on him fiercely. 

Levi: Sinneth he not against us, with his dreams and 
boastings? 

Zebulun: His dreams, forsooth! Our sheaves doing 
his sheaf homage! 

Judah: Daily is he honored above us, his elders! 

Simeon: We will endure his arrogance no longer! 

Gad: Yea, and he also informeth against us. Come, 
let us kill him! 

Issachar: Kill him, and hide his body in the pit! 

Reuben: Nevertheless, hear me, brethren! Let us 
not kill the lad. We w T ill shed no blood, but 
cast him alive into this pit, that is in the wilder- 
ness, and lay no hand upon him. Lo, the pit is 
empty, there is no water in it. Shall he not 
doubtless perish? 

Simeon: Thou sayest well. 

Others: Ay, the pit! We will cast him alive into the 
pit! 

101 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Asher (warningly): He draweth nigh. 

They hastily resume their former attitudes, 
Enter Joseph, entirely unsuspicious. 
Gad: Hail, Prince Joseph! What hast thou dreamed 

today? 
Joseph: Peace be upon you, brethren! Is it well with 
you? 

They seize him roughly and strip off the coat 
of many colors. At first he is bewildered and does 
not resist. 
Joseph (struggles): What do ye, brethren? Lo, our 
father hath sent me — Cease! Let me go! 

They push and drag him toward the door at back 
of stage. 
Dan: Perchance in the pit he may dream another 
dream! 

They disappear laughing. 
Reuben (follows slowly): Thus have I prevailed upon 
them to do him no hurt? I will take him out of 
this pit in secret and deliver him again to his 
father. 

Exit Reuben. 
Curtain 

Scene 8 
Scene: the same. 
Enter the Brothers, except Reuben and Joseph. 
Simeon carries Joseph's coat. 

Simeon: Now will we kill a kid of the goats and dip 
the coat in the blood. Then shall we say to our 
102 



Joseph and His Brethren 

father, This have we found; know now whether 
it be thy son's coat or no. 

Issachar: Yea, then shall he say, Joseph is without 
doubt rent in pieces by some evil beast. 

Naphtali (points): Lo, yonder! A caravan of 
Ishmaelites from Gilead! 

Zebulun: Yea, with camels bearing spicery and balm 
and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 

Jndah (starts up): What profit is it if we slay our 
brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us 
sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand 
be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. 
And the price will we divide among ourselves! 

Levi: I am content. 

Simeon: Yea, and I also. 

Others: We are content. 

Judah: Reuben tendeth the flock by yonder water- 
course, — let us make haste ere he return. 

All: Yea, let us hasten. 

Exeunt, toward pit. 
Enter Reuben from opposite direction. 

Reuben: Lo, they have departed! Now will I make 
haste to lift up Joseph out of this pit, that he 
may return in peace unto our father. 
Starts out but stops suddenly. 
But whither are they gone? The sun is yet 
high! There is no sound — can it be that they 
have slain the lad? 

103 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Rushes out to look into pit, and returns in dis- 
ess. 

The child is not, and I, whither shall I go? 
Exit Reuben. 
Curtain 

Act II 
Scene 1 
Scene: Egypt. Palace of Pharaoh. 
The curtain rises on Pharaoh, in attitude of dejec- 
tion, seated on throne. Guards stationed behind and 
at either side. Wise Men, with scrolls or records, 
consulting at the right. The Butler, kneeling before 
Pharaoh, offering wine in gold or silver cup on salver. 
Pharaoh (refuses it): Nay, I wish it not. My heart 

is heavy within me. 
Butler (Jbowing) : My lord is troubled? 
Pharaoh: I have dreamed a dream, and told it to all 
the magicians and all the wise men of Egypt, and 
there is none that can interpret it to me. 
Butler: I pray thee, my lord, let thy servant speak, and 
be not angry with thy servant. 

(Pharaoh gives assent.) 
There is a young man, a Hebrew, who was also 
with me in prison; and lo, I dreamed, and he did 
interpret me my dream, and it happened even as 
he foretold. 
Pharaoh: Where is this youth? Let him be brought. 
Butler (bows): He was servant to Potiphar, the cap- 
tain of the guard. 

104 



Joseph and His Brethren 

Pharaoh (to Servant) : Go, bring him hither quickly. 
Servant bows, and exit. 

Pharaoh (to butler) : What is he called? Hath he of a 
surety power to interpret dreams? 

Butler (bows): He is called Joseph, my lord. From 
the land of the Hebrews was he stolen away and 
sold into Egypt. And not only my dream did he 
faithfully foretell, but that of the chief baker. 
And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so 
it was. Me, Pharaoh restored unto mine office, 
and the baker he hanged! 

Enter Servant with Joseph. Servant bows. 
Joseph kneels before throne and touches forehead 
to floor. Pharaoh motions him to rise. 

Pharaoh: I have dreamed a dream, and there is none 
that can interpret it; and I have heard say of 
thee that thou canst understand a dream, to tell 
its meaning. 

Joseph: It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an 
answer of peace. 

Pharaoh: In my dream, behold, I stood upon the 
bank of the river, and there came up out of the 
river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favoured; 
and they fed in a meadow T . 

And, behold, seven other kine came up after 
them, poor and very ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, 
such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for 
badness. And the lean and ill-favoured kine did 
eat up the first seven fat kine, but lo, they were 
still ill-favoured as at the beginning. 
105 



The Dramatic Instinct 

And I dreamed again, and lo, seven ears came 
up in one stalk, full and good. 

And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and 
blasted with the east w r ind, sprung up after them. 

And the thin ears devoured the seven good 
ears; and I told this to the magicians, but there 
was none that could declare it unto me. 
Joseph: Behold, what God is about to do he showeth 
unto Pharaoh! The seven good kine are seven 
years, and the seven good ears are seven years; 
the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill-fa- 
voured kine that came up after them, and the 
seven empty ears, blasted with the east wind, 
shall be seven years of famine. 

Behold, there come seven years of great plenty 
throughout all the land of Egypt, and after them 
come seven years of famine; and the famine 
shall be very grievous, and God shall shortly 
bring all this to pass. 

Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man dis- 
creet and wise, and set him over the land of 
Egypt. 

And let them gather up food in these good years 
that come, and lay up corn in the cities under the 
hand of Pharaoh, for a store to the land against 
the grievous famine. 

Pharaoh turns and addresses group of Wise- 
Men, Officers, etc., who consult before answering. 
Pharaoh: What say ye? Hath he not spoken well? 

106 



Joseph and His Brethren 

Officer (bows) : My lord, the thing is good in the eyes of 
all thy servants; let Pharaoh do according as 
he hath spoken, that the land perish not through 
the famine. 
Pharaoh: Can we find such a one as this, a man in 
whom the Spirit of God is? 
Turns to Joseph. 

Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, 
there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. 
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto 
thy word shall all my people be ruled; only on 
the throne will I be greater than thou! 

Beckons to Joseph, who kneels while Pharaoh 
puts ring on his finger and gold chain about his 
neck. Pharaoh motions him to rise, and, himself 
rising, extends arm toward group of Officers. 
Pharaoh: Bow the knee! Bow the knee! For behold, 
I have made him ruler over all the land of Egypt! 
All immediately prostrate themselves. 
Curtain 

Act III 
Scene 1 
Egypt. Palace of Joseph. 
Curtain rises on Joseph and Steward, standing in 
conversation near right front of stage. Servant sta- 
tioned at door. Enter Another Servant. 
Servant (bows) : My lord, there stand without certain 
Hebrews, from Canaan, come to buy corn. 
107 



The Deamatic Instinct 

Joseph (with interest): Hebrews, saidst thou? Bring 

them in. 

Exit Seevant. Enter the Ten Beothees and 

prostrate themselves. Servant takes position by 

door. Joseph gives start of recognition. 
Joseph (aside) : As the Lord liveth, my brethren! 
Controls agitation and speaks harshly. 
Whence come ye? 

Motions them to rise. 
Reuben (boivs): My Lord, we come from the land of 

Canaan, to buy food. 
Joseph: Ye are spies. To see the nakedness of the 

land are ye come! 
Reuben (bows): Nay, my lord; but to buy food are 

thy servants come. 
Levi (bows): We are all one man's sons; we are true 

men; thy servants are no spies. 
Joseph: Nay, ye are spies. Surely ye be not brethren! 
Simeon (bows): Thy servants are twelve brethren, 

the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and 

behold, the youngest is this day with our father, 

and one is not. 
Joseph (eagerly) : Is your father yet alive? Have ye 

another brother? 
Jtidah (bows) : My lord, we have a father, an old man, 

and a child of his old age, a little one. 
Joseph (resumes harshness) : Again I say unto you, ye 

are spies! By the life of Pharaoh, ye shall not 

all go forth hence except your brother come 

hither. 

108 



Joseph and His Brethren 

Simeon (bows): Nay, my lord, the lad cannot leave 
his father; for if he should leave his father, his 
father would die. 

Joseph: Now hereby shall ye be proved. If ye be true 
men, let one of you be bound and cast into prison. 
And go ye the rest, carry corn for the famine of 
your houses, and bring your youngest brother 
unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. 
So shall your words be verified, and ye shall not 
die. 

Levi (to Brothers): We are verily guilty concern- 
ing our brother Joseph, in that we saw the anguish 
of his soul, when he besought us and we would not 
hear! 

Judah: Yea, therefore is this distress come upon us! 

Reuben: Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin 
against the child? and ye would not hear! 

Joseph (sternly) : Why whisper ye among yourselves? 
Verily, ye shall not see my face again unless your 
youngest brother be with you. 

Simeon (boivs): O my lord, I pray thee — 

Joseph (interrupts): Bind me this man and take him 
away! 

Exeunt Servants with Simeon. 

Joseph (to brothers): Take ye food for your house- 
holds and be gone, and bring your youngest 
brother unto me. Then shall I know that ye are 
true men &md not spies; and I will deliver unto 
you your brother that is bound. 

Exeunt Brothers in great dejection. 

109 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Joseph (to Steward) : Fill now their sacks with corn, 
and give them provisions and set them on their 
way. And do thou privately restore every man 
his money into his sack. 

Steward bows, and exit. 
Curtain 

Act III 

Scene 2 
Hebron. Tent of Israel. 
Curtain rises on Israel, Reuben, Levi and Judah. 

They, remain standing during the scene, moving about as 

naturally as possible. 

Israel: Behold, the famine is still sore in the land. 
Go ye again into Egypt, buy us a little food. 

Reuben: My father, did we not tell thee aforetime how 
that the man, the lord of the country, did sol- 
emnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see 
my face except your brother be with you? 

Israel: Yea, ye have told me; but I will send him not. 
Some mischief will befall him. 

Levi: If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go 
down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt not 
send Benjamin we will not go down, for the man 
is even as Pharaoh. 

Israel: Nay, he shall not go down. Joseph is not, 
and Simeon is not, and ye would take Benjamin 
away! 

Reuben: Without him we dare not go. 

110 



Joseph and His Brethren 

Israel {impatiently) : Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me 
as to tell the man ye had yet a brother? 

Judah: The man asked us straitly of our state and of 
our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? 
Have ye another brother? And so we told him. 
Could we know that he would say, Bring your 
brother down? 
Israel shakes his head in distress and doubt. 

Levi: I pray thee, send the lad with us, that we may 
arise and go; for without food we must die, both 
we, and thou, and also our little ones. 

Israel: Ye know that Rachel bare me two sons. 
And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely 
he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since. 
And if ye take Benjamin also from me, and evil 
befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with 
sorrow to the grave. 

Judah {with great earnestness) : Behold, I will be surety 
for him; of my hand shalt thou require him. If 
I bring him not unto thee again, then let me bear 
the blame forever! 
Israel ivalks slowly across stage before replying. 

Israel: If it must be so, now do this: take of the best 
fruits of the land, and carry down the man a 
present. And take double money in your hand; 
and the money that was found in the mouth of 
your sacks, carry it again in your hand. Perad- 
venture it was an oversight. Take also your 
brother, and arise, go again unto the man. And 
God Almighty give you merc3 r before the man, 
111 



The Dramatic Instinct 

that he may send away your other brother and 
Benjamin! If I be bereaved of my children, I 
am bereaved! 

Brothers bow. Exeunt. 
Curtain 

Act IV 

Egypt. Palace of Joseph. 

Between this and the preceding act the Brothers have 
returned to Egypt, taking Benjamin. Joseph 
has released Simeon and feasted the whole party at 
his house. They start home, still ignorant of his 
identity, but are recalled at his order. The curtain 
rises on Joseph seated at center back, Servants in 
attendance. Enter Steward and bows. 

Steward: My lord, I have done as thou didst com- 
mand, and have concealed thy cup in the sack's 
mouth of the youngest. 

Joseph: And hast thou sent to overtake them ere 
they reach the inn? 

Steward (boios): Yea, my lord, and lo, they are even 
now returned. 

Joseph: It is well. Bring them hither. 

Exit Steward. Enter the Eleven Brothers, 
and prostrate themselves. Each carries his sack. 
They remain kneeling till the conclusion of the act. 

Joseph (sternly): Wherefore have ye rewarded evil 
for good, to steal my silver cup? Did I not 
entreat you kindly, and give you to eat bread in 
112 



Joseph and His Brethren 

mine own house, and deliver you your brother 
that was bound? And lo, this have ye done! 

The Brothers look at one another in amaze- 
ment and dismay. 

Reuben: Wherefore saith my lord these words? God 
forbid that thy servants should do according to 
this thing. Behold, the money w T hich we found 
in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to thee 
out of the land of Canaan; how then should we 
steal out of thy house silver or gold? With 
whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let 
him die, and we also will be my lord's bondsmen! 

Joseph: Now let it be according to these words. 
He w T ith whom the cup be found shall be my 
servant, but ye shall be blameless. 
To Steward. 
Open every man's sack and search, beginning 
with the eldest! 

Steward obeys, and finds the cup in Benja- 
min's sack. A groan goes up from all the 
Brothers. 

Joseph: What deed is this that ye have done? Knew 
ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine? 

Judah {aside): What shall we say unto my lord? 

Levi (aside) : What shall we speak? 

Simeon (aside) : How shall we clear ourselves? 

Reuben (very humbly): God hath found out the in- 
iquity of thy servants; behold, we are my lord's 
bondsmen, both we, and he also with whom the 
cup is found. 

113 



The Dramatic Instinct 

Joseph: Nay, but the man in whose hand the cup is 
found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, 
get you up in peace unto your father. 

Judah: O my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, 
speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine 
anger burn against thy servant; for thou art even 
as Pharaoh! 

Joseph: Say on. 

Judah: At thy command, my lord, we brought the 
lad down from the land of Canaan; and, behold, 
our father said unto us, If mischief befall him, 
ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow 
to the grave. For lo, his brother Joseph is dead, 
and he alone is left of his mother, and his father 
loveth him. And I thy servant became surety 
for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him 
not unto thee again, then let me bear the blame 
forever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let me 
abide instead of the lad a bondsman to my lord, 
and let the lad go up with his brethren. 

Half rises on the last sentence, with arms out- 
stretched in supplication. 

Joseph (to Steward): Cause every man to go out 
from me! 

Exeunt Steward and other Servants 

Joseph (rises): I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? 
They are dumbfounded and terrified. 
I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into 
Egypt. 

114 



Joseph and His Brethren 

Levi (in awestruck whisper): Joseph! See how our 
sin has found us out! 

Others (also aside): Yea, our sin is upon us! Now 
must we doubtless perish. 

Joseph: Nay, my brethren, be not afraid, nor angry 
with yourselves that ye sold me hither; for God 
did send me before you to preserve your lives, 
for there are yet five years of famine. So now it 
was not you that sent me hither, but God, and he 
hath made me ruler of all the land of Egypt. 
And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in 
Egypt, and all that ye have seen; and ye shall 
haste and bring down my father hither, that I 
may nourish him and you and all your households 
throughout the grievous famine! 

He stretches out his arms toward them as they 
still hesitate. 

Oh, my brethren, come near to me, I pray you! 
Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother 
Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto 
you! 

Embraces Benjamin 

Curtain 



115 



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